You say that your mother has been tested and found negative – do you mean she has been tested for one of the faulty BRCA genes that are the cause of hereditary cancer?

Although most cases aren’t hereditary, with your family history, and particularly with most of the family members being young when they got it, it does sound as if you might be at increased risk – unless your mother has tested negative for the faulty genes, in which case I think I’m right in saying you won’t have the gene.

That’s the first thing you need to know; your mother may already know whether your relatives’ cancer was hereditary.

Other than hereditary factors, nobody knows what causes breast cancer, and so nobody knows how to prevent it. No foods or diets have been shown to have any effect. I used to think my organic vegan diet would protect me from cancer, but it didn’t.

There are known risk factors, some avoidable and some not, but they ARE only risk factors; having one, some or all of them does not mean you will get breast cancer, and many, many people who are diagnosed with breast cancer have none of these risk factors. They are:

Genetic – but only 5-10% of breast cancers are genetic/hereditary

Getting older – the greatest risk factor

Having children at an older age or not at all. The more children a woman has may also slightly lower her risk. Breast-feeding helps protect against the disease. The longer a woman breastfeeds her children, the more she lowers her risk.

Starting periods at a younger than average age (under 12) or having a late menopause (after 55)
.
Taking the contraceptive pill or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) causes a small increase in risk. However, the risk gradually returns to normal after you stop taking them.

Being overweight (especially after the menopause).

Regularly drinking more than 1 unit of alcohol per day slightly increases the risk of breast cancer.

Having a previous diagnosis of breast cancer increases the risk of developing a new cancer in the other breast.

As I said though, someone may tick all of these boxes, and never get cancer.

Doctors recomend to eat healthy, little meat and pork. Lots of fish. Broccoli helps prevent ovarian cancer, eat lots of greens.

Doctors say too that women 35 years old taking the pill and smoking have a greater risk too of developing breast cancer, overweigth is another factor too.