The cause is not fully understood. The usual suspects in breast cancers are genetics, exposure to ionizing radiation and xenoestrogens that cause mutations in the DNA, while decreasing the body's capacity to repair the damage. However, there are other things that act as promoters of the disease, such as age, alcohol, smoking, artificial light, obesity and having the first child at late age.
 

Gaining weight, especially after the menopause, has a tremendous influence on the risk of developing breast cancer. An international team of scientists has recently found that losing 10 pounds between the ages of 18 and 30 lowers the risk of cancer by as much as 65%, while gaining 10 pounds increases the risk of developing cancer after the age of 40.

The international study was conducted on a group of 2,000 women carrying the BRCA1 and 2 genes and focused on their weight at the ages of 18, 30 and 40. What scientists found was that women who lost weight, especially after having given birth to children, had better chances of avoiding the mutation of genes that causes breast cancer.

Another important study has focused on the diet of women after breast cancer surgery. According to this study, women who had followed a low-fat diet saw a 24 percent decrease on average in the risk of breast cancer recurrence. The biggest boon went to women suffering from estrogen receptor negative cancer, who saw a 42 percent drop in the risk of recurrence.

For this reason doctors and cancer experts advise women to keep an eye on their weight, because letting things go out of hand could turn out to have fatal consequences later on. A low-fat diet, plenty of exercise and healthy foods are one of the best ways women can make life easier for themselves. A normal body weight also helps fight cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and other conditions.

Diagnosis
The findings that denote a cancer are single, non-tender and firm to hard mass with ill-defined margins. This can be later confirmed by mammography and biopsy. After the cancer has been diagnosed staging is done to find out the best treatment option as well as the prognosis.

Management
The management of breast cancer rests basically on two things. The first is the treatment and second is the counseling. The treatment can further be divided into three: medical, radiation, and surgery. The medical treatment consists of drugs such as tamoxifen, which is an anti estrogen, aromatase inhibitors such as aminoglutethimide and monoclonal antibodies such as trastuzumab. But similar to other drugs they have their own side effects profile. The side effects associated with tamoxifen are increased vaginal bleeding, endometrial cancer and cataracts. The aromatase inhibitors have the side effects of leg cramps, jaundice and weight gain while the monoclonal antibodies may cause sterility or certain birth abnormalities.
Generally the radiation and surgery are the modalities, which are needed for the treatment to ward off the body of the cancerous growth.

Counseling
This is one of the most important parts of the treatment both before and after the surgery. The patients are to be taught that this is only another disease, which has treatment available, and persons can lead a normal life after that.

Latest research
Latest research is being done on both the surgery and the medicine. For the surgery, surgeons are trying to find out the best way of surgery so that post surgery the patients have minimal disabilities. Similar medicines with lesser side effects are being researched.


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