It is important to know what factors you can change to decrease your risk. Making the following changes in your life will improve your overall health and also MAY SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE your risk for breast cancer.

Be aware of every resource available so you can quit smoking - for good! Research shows:

			Smoking causes many diseases
			Smoking is associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer
			Smoking can also increase complications from breast cancer treatment
			Smoking can worsen radiation damage to the lung, cause difficulty healing after surgery and increase risk of blood clots with hormonal therapy
			Smoking causes many diseases
			Smoking can worsen radiation damage to the lung, cause difficulty healing after surgery and increase risk of blood clots with hormonal therapy

Fortunately, if you're serious about quitting, there are many support options available. The American Cancer Society offers their Fresh Start program to help people quit smoking. Their "Quitline" at 1-800-ACS-2345 provides support and access to free advice on how to stop smoking from trained counselors.

Research has shown that four hours of exercise a week may lower the risk of breast cancer because:

			Exercise lowers the estrogen levels in your body - with less estrogen around, there is less stimulation of breast cell growth, which is associated with a lower risk of breast cancer
			Exercise can also help boost the immune system, limit weight gain from chemotherapy, and help ease treatment side effects

Overweight women have an increased risk of getting breast cancer after menopause because extra fat cells make extra estrogen that might stimulate breast cell growth. Plus, overweight women tend to exercise less and eat higher-fat foods. Being overweight can increase the risk of breast cancer coming back in women who have had the disease as well.

Prolonged exposure to estrogen without a break can increase your risk for breast cancer. To reduce or eliminate sources of extra estrogen from your diet and environment, try the following steps:

			Shed any extra pounds
			Keep those pounds off when you do lose weight
			Extra fat cells make extra estrogen
			At a healthy weight, estrogen levels tend to be lower

If you have already had breast cancer, avoid taking estrogen-like and progesterone-like products such as menopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone). So far the increased risk of breast cancer is most closely associated with the combination of estrogen and progesterone pills.

Most healthcare providers agree that the use of alcohol can increase the risk of breast cancer. In a 2002 study, conducted by Paul Terry, PhD, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine analyzed dietary and beverage habits of over 60,000 women and found that those who consumed alcohol had a 30% higher risk of developing breast cancer, compared to women who did not drink.

Many people choose to stop drinking alcohol completely, but if you enjoy alcoholic beverages and plan to continue using them, try to have fewer than five alcoholic drinks a week. Significant alcohol use is unhealthy for your liver, which helps regulate estrogen levels in your system. So limiting your alcohol use helps your liver keep blood estrogen levels low.

Restrict sources of red meat and other animal fats (including dairy fat in cheese, milk, and ice cream), because they may contain hormones, other growth factors, antibiotics, and pesticides.

If circumstances allow, consider having children sooner rather than later in life. A full-term pregnancy, which stops your menstrual cycle for nine months, seems to offer protection against breast cancer. Pregnancy produces a blend of several hormones that forces breast cells to "mature" and learn how to make milk. When this happens, they have less time to act out and cause problems-like starting a cancer. Estrogen is in the mix of the hormonal blend, but the other hormones seem to balance out its effects.