[Wooly]

Too many people think that cancer is a disease that you catch and if you just eat this food, take this vitamin, detox your colon or follow some other popular guru. Reality is that for most cancers you are born with a flaw in your DNA that at some point in time causes the reproduction of cells to mutate. Very few cancers seem to be caused from outside reasons alone, such as Lung cancer or skin cancer.
And before you decide that I am full of it, I am undergoing treatment for prostate cancer and my oncologist when ask if there was anything I could have done to prevent this told me that it is almost always hereditary.

[ottbmare]

I’m sorry about your prostate cancer. In your case, doubtless your oncologist is right. On the other hand, cancer is a lot of different diseases. Breast cancer in particular appears to be not only genetically linked, but susceptible to external influences. The fact that it is more prevalent here and now than it was in other epochs or other cultures suggests there may be mediating influences that trigger whatever predisposing genetic flaws may exist. For example, there is some evidence that having an abortion may lead to a higher risk of breast cancer. It’s not unlikely that eating foods that contain estrogen-mimicking compounds could also influence one’s risk of developing female reproductive cancers, and the matter is worth investigation.