9 Things You Didn't Know About Breast Cancer

- Alcohol is linked to breast cancer.

Drinking one alcoholic drink per day only slightly increases a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. But drinking two to five drinks every day increases a woman’s risk by one and a half times, the American Cancer Society reported. Alcohol increases the odds by raising certain hormone levels and by damaging DNA in cells.

- Men can get breast cancer, too.

Approximately 2,350 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, although this is only a small fraction compared to the 231,840 women in the U.S. who will be diagnosed, according to the American Cancer Society.

"The figure [for males] is approximately one in 1,000, so it's far less than females, but typically men are diagnosed at a later stage," Lynda Weeks, executive director of Susan G. Komen Louisville, told The Courier-Journal. Men can develop breast cancer because they have breast tissue. The reason they are less affected is because their breast duct cells are less developed, and they have less of the female hormones that can disrupt breast cell growth and cause a problem. 

- Most women with breast cancer didn't inherit the disease.

Only small percentage–about 5 percent to 10 percent–of women who have breast cancer developed the disease due to genetics, the American Cancer Societysaid. Still, women whose relatives have suffered from breast cancer have a much higher chance of getting the disease than the rest of the population. A woman whose parent, sibling or child has had breast cancer is about twice as likely to get the disease, and those who have more than one close relative with it triple their odds of getting it. 

The most prevalent genetic cause of breast cancer is a mutation in the genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, which can also be passed down from the father's side of the family. The mutations are more common in Jewish people of Eastern Europe origin and people whose close relatives were diagnosed with breast cancer at an early age, although there are numerous additional factors that increase the likelihood of the mutations. 

- Most people beat breast cancer.

For people with breast cancer, the odds of survival are definitely in their favor, though the chances vary depending on their specific type of cancer and stage of the disease. The overall five-year survival rate of people with breast cancer is 89.4 percent, and it is 98.6 percent for those with localized forms, according to the National Cancer Institute's latest data.

The majority–more than 60 percent–of breast cancer cases are localized, but for those with more advanced forms, the outlook falls drastically. When the cancer spreads to regional lymph nodes, patients only have a 32 percent chance of surviving five years or more, and that number drops to 6 percent and 2 percent for metastasized and unstaged breast cancers, respectively. 

​- Most breast lumps are benign.

Most breast lumps are not cancerous, according to the National Cancer Society. The most common types of these lumps are fibrosis, cysts or benign breast tumors.

"I tell women that years before they ever experience a palpable lump we will have seen something on their screening mammogram," Steven Goldstein, an obstetrician-gynecologist and professor at New York Univerity's Langone Medical Center, told Everyday Health. 

- More women are getting mastectomies. 

In May 2013, Angelina Jolie Pitt dominated the media when she announced she had undergone a preventative double mascectomy after discovering she had the BRCA1 gene. Women who only have cancer in one breast are also opting to get both breasts removed, even if they have a very low chance of getting breast cancer again.

"This is an epidemic," Dr. Ann Patridge, an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, told The Wall Street Journal. From 1998 to 2011, the rates of women getting double mastectomies, even though one of their breasts was cancer-free, surged from 1.9 percent to 11.2 percent, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers found. Other celebrities who have spurred the movement with their own double mastectomies include Christina Applegate, Giuliana Rancic and Sharon Osbourne.  

- Exercise can lower someone's chances of getting the disease.

There have been many studies exploring the relationship between physical activity and the chances of developing breast cancer, and most data suggests that exercise lowers the risk. But the scientific community hasn't agreed as to what level it makes a difference, with a risk reduction range between 20 and 80 percent, the National Cancer Institute said. Most research indicate that moderate to high-intensity exercise for between 30 and 60 minutes per day does make an impact.

- Breast cancer can spread to unexpected areas.

Breast cancer can spread to lymph nodes–part of the lymphatic system, which carries cells and fluid throughout the body–in the underarm and the collarbone areas, according to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The disease usually spreads to underarm lymph nodes first and is more difficult to treat once it does.

- Breast cancer rates haven't changed much over the last decade.

Breast cancer rates started dropping in 2000 for the first time in a couple of decades, and they dropped 7 percent from 2002 to 2003, the American Cancer Society said. Experts attribute the major decline largely to a decreased use of menopausal hormone therapy.

The rates didn't change much from 2002 to 2011, the CDC reported, but they did increase slightly for black women and for Asian/Pacific Islander women.

Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/slideshows/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-breast-cancer?slide=10