Although
recent U.S. reports show that the death rate from breast cancer
for African Americans is slowly declining, it still lags behind
the decline seen for other races. In fact, breast cancer is the
second-leading cause of cancer death among African American women.
Consider the facts:
|
While the incidence
rate for breast cancer impacting African Americans is about
12 percent lower than for white women, the mortality however,
rate is 36 percent higher |
|
Breast cancer incidence is higher
for younger African Americans under 40 than for African American
women over the age of 40 |
|
Mammography use appears to be
stabilizing for African Americans over age 50 and unfortunately,
decreasing for African Americans under age 50 |
While there is no sure way to avoid breast cancer, some healthy
lifestyle choices may help lower your risk for the disease. They
also have the added bonus of cutting the risk of heart disease,
diabetes, colon cancer and osteoporosis. Everyone should try to:
|
Be physically active |
|
Maintain a healthy weight |
|
Cut down on "bad" fats
(saturated and trans fats), and consume more "good"
fats (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, like olive
and canola oil) |
|
Take a daily multivitamin with
folic acid (often called folate on nutrition labels) |
|
If you drink, limit your intake
to less than one alcoholic drink a day |
Visit www.komen.org
to learn more about African American women and breast cancer. |
