Will You Get Breast Cancer?
Breast Cancer: The Great Debate
Even leading experts are still scratching their heads over conflicting research in the following areas.
The Pill. A reassuring recent report in The New England Journal of Medicine found no link between Pill use and breast cancer. But other studies have found a slight connection. "It appears safe to be on the Pill for around five to 10 years," says Oratz. "But the jury is still out on long-term use."
A high-fat diet. Two recent Harvard Medical School of Public Health studies found that women who ate a low-fat diet weren't any less likely to get breast cancer than women who ate a diet higher in fat. Still other research says that eating monounsaturated fat (such as olive oil) may lower risk.
Sun exposure. Women who live in sunny areas have lower breast-cancer rates than women who don't. The likely reason: The sun's UVB rays enable your body to produce vitamin D, which may reduce breast-cancer risk. But the vitamin D-cancer connection is preliminary, and it's not clear whether you can reap the same effects from fortified foods or supplements.