First things first. Let’s eradicate all the myths that surround breast cancer. To be thoroughly informed, we must know what are the correct facts, what are the wrong ones.

One common myth is a lump in the breast automatically means it’s cancer. This is not true. It is reported that eight out of ten lumps are not malignant. As long as the lump is detected early, recovery is not a problem at all. Some of the non-cancerous stuff found in the breasts are the following: fibroadenomas, cysts or a fibrocystic disease.

Another myth is men do not acquire breast cancer. Well, they do. That’s why men also have to be attentive to any change in their breasts.

Mammogram can trigger the widespread of breast cancer. This is not true. The pressure from this x-ray does not do a thing except detect if there is a suspicious growth within the breasts.

It has also been said that a history of breast cancer in the family means the woman will get it too. Not necessarily true, although those with history have greater risk. But every woman must still have a mammogram, just to check and rule out cancer. It is not a communicable disease, as what other people believe.

For stories from patients battling breast cancer and those who’ve survived it, Mamm magazine is the recommended subscription.

Now that those myths are out of the way, it is important to know about the risk factors of breast cancer:

1. Having menstruated at an early age and going into late menopause

2. Eating food which has ample amount of saturated fat

3. Having a family which has a history of acquiring the disease

4. Getting pregnant at a late age or not getting pregnant at all

5. Having undergone estrogen replacement therapy

6. Being obese

7. Having had therapeutic irradiation for treatment of Hodgkins Disease