HEALTH: LOADING THE DICE AND PREVENTION IS BEST

I have a major question which I have been asking ever since my own encounter with cancer: If some survive and some don't, what can we learn from the survivors and what can we do to load the dice in our favour? The bald truth is that it is up to us to do what we can to help ourselves. Our families and friends can encourage and support us, but doing what it takes to give ourselves the best opportunity to thrive must come from within. Nobody gets it right all the time, but as long as we are making educated choices for ourselves we know that we are giving it our best shot.

Prevention is best-Today I practise as a nutritionist specializing in the care of women with breast cancer and I find myself becoming frustrated that insufficient attention is paid to prevention of this disease. It must be obvious to most people that it is a better strategy to avoid such a problem than to pick up the pieces afterwards. 'Reliable evidence shows that what we eat and drink is crucial in determining our risk of cancer,' stated Professor Philip James when launching the World Cancer Research Fund report in 1998. 'The evidence linking diet to cancer is now as compelling as the evidence on diet and heart disease,' added Professor Walter Willett of Harvard University, one of the world's leading nutritional epidemiologists.

Why do more people not concern themselves with prevention when the information is out there? Cancer is a difficult subject for most people. It is feared far more than cardiovascular disease even though, statistically, heart attacks and strokes outnumber cancer as killers. Breast cancer in particular is very threatening to women - it attacks their sense of attractiveness as well as forcing them to deal with the issue of mortality. The fear of death, the fear of losing a breast to surgery, of hair loss during chemotherapy, of tiredness and sickness during treatment are huge issues. And many of us are ostriches. If we don't think about it or address the problem, then maybe it will not happen. Even those who do think about it don't know how far to take preventive measures - there is a mass of information, much of it conflicting, so it is often easier just to ignore it all. And then there is a feeling of helplessness. If, as it seems, environmental factors are so important, and chemicals in our diet, and in the water we drink and the air we breathe contribute to breast cancer, what do we do - stop breathing? It can all seem quite complex. Others are simply unaware that diet, environment and lifestyle may have an

impact - until they have no choice but to face the issues.

Ideally this is a article that will be used for prevention. This is, without a doubt, the area where the most significant changes to women's health can be made. In the last thirty years the incidence of breast cancer has increased by a massive 50 per cent. If these cases could have been prevented, we would have avoided untold heartache and saved millions of pounds.

Though prevention is the ideal, women who have already been diagnosed with breast cancer can benefit enormously from nutritional intervention. It is these women who are most likely to heed such advice - and these are the women who will bring the message to others. Every woman with breast cancer touches the lives of others and, whether she realizes it or not, is a bearer of information about this disease. It is my hope that this book will be read by the female relatives and friends of breast cancer patients for their own benefit. Their male relatives and friends may also take an interest-breast cancer affects the whole family.

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Cancer