Breast Cancer: A Lifestyle Medicine Approach

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common female cancer diagnosis in the United States (excluding skin cancers), and the second leading cause of female cancer death. This article highlights the role that lifestyle plays in primary breast cancer prevention, breast cancer treatment, and tertiary breast cancer prevention. Current data regarding the benefits of a predominantly plant-based diet in combination with physical activity and maintenance of a healthy body weight will be reviewed. The evidenced-based patient-focused recommendations developed by the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research will be discussed in the context of an overall lifestyle strategy. It is our hope that this publication empowers clinicians to provide patients with personalized cancer-protective lifestyle prescriptions.

Keywords: breast cancer; cancer; exercise; mindfulness; nutrition; soy.

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

© 2020 The Author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.

American Institute for Cancer Research’s 10 recommendations for cancer prevention.

Figure 2.

The chemical structure of (a) estradiol and (b) genistein. Genistein is a soy phytoestrogen isoflavone with a molecular structure similar to estradiol.