About Cancer

According to the National Cancer Institute, there were more than 2.5 million women in 2006 who had a history of any type of breast cancer, and have managed to survive the ordeal.

To give you an idea about just how serious this disease is, take a look at some other statistics:

- Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer (next to lung cancer) in both men and women.

- Breast cancer is the 5th most common cause of cancer-related deaths.

- Breast cancer is 100 times more frequent in women than in men - although the survival rate is equal in both sexes.

As you may already know, breast cancer is a type of cancer which starts in the cells of the breasts in both men and women. Although it does occur more frequently in women, the severity of the illness is just as serious where men are concerned.

Here, we will try to learn a few more things about women's breasts that you may not necessarily have known about. How do these facts about women's breasts affect the probability of having breast cancer? Read on to find out.

7 Things You Probably Didn't Know about Breasts

As mentioned earlier, what we will provide you with is a list of the top 7 things that you probably didn't know about breasts.

Half of these facts do not necessarily have anything to do with breast cancer, but half of them are related to the incidence of this serious disease. Take a look at the following list:

1. A woman's breasts swell during sex.

Traditionally, a woman's breasts represent her femininity and it's also a symbol of motherhood. Now, if you are tangling the sheets with your significant other, do you feel as if your breasts are swelling when you are already sexually aroused? There is a basis to this and it actually does in fact physically swell.

According to the British Medical Journal, women do experience up to 25% of swelling in their breasts when they are indulging in sexual activity. This is caused by the feeling of arousal and the hormonal surge in a woman's body. In addition, swollen breasts become the body's natural way of boosting its seductive powers from a man's point of view.

2. Breastfeeding can actually help you lose weight.

Whether you're a first-time, second-time or third-time mom, you will notice significant changes in your body during your entire pregnancy - especially when it comes to your breasts.

During the pregnancy stage, the breasts become larger in size due to lactation.

But did you know that if you do go for breastfeeding over feeding your baby with formula milk, it can actually help you lose weight? [Breastfeeding benefits]

According to the studies conducted by Dewey, Heinig and Nommsen of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, women who breastfeed from about three to six months have experienced a significant amount of fat loss in their own bodies. The weight loss may continue six months after your baby is born.

3. Women who are 50 years and up have a higher risk of developing breast cancer.

Perhaps the number one reason why there are fewer and fewer deaths associated with breast cancer is awareness on the part of the general women's population. [Breast cancer awareness]

Early diagnosis is actually the number one preventive measure that can be taken to fight death caused by breast cancer. So the earlier the condition is detected, the better the chances of survival rate.

But did you know that as you age, you would have a higher risk of developing the big C on your breasts? This is due to the fact that as women age, cellular mutation is on an increasing pattern.

Whether or not you have a family history of breast cancer, you should be more concerned about the possibility of developing the disease by the time that you hit your 50's.

4. Consuming milk may actually lead to breast cancer.

Sure, giving your milk to your baby when you are lactating may help you lose weight - but did you know that consuming milk yourself may actually lead to breast cancer?

The types of milk which are on the safe side include rice milk, goat's milk and almond milk.

On the other hand, those which are highly suspected of causing breast cancer include soy milk which contains isoflavones.

This is a plant-like estrogen which imitates the estrogen in humans - so drinking a lot of soy milk is not recommended by the experts.

If you have breast cancer, the goal is to keep the estrogen level low, and the recommended intake of isoflavones is only about 100 milligrams a day.

5. The healthier you are, the better it would be for the health of your breasts.

These days, it is quite easy to succumb into leading a sedentary lifestyle because everything seems to be easily within reach. There seems to be a link between obesity and breast cancer - which is exactly the reason why you should try to remain as healthy as you can for the benefit of your breast health and also your overall health.

Eating a lot of fruits and veggies, foods with antioxidants and having a proper exercise and diet program are the preventive measures that you can apply to prevent having breast cancer in the future.

Another way to live a cancer-free life is by avoiding alcohol as much as you can. There may be just a tiny link connecting these two - but the link is there just the same.

6. Women who religiously self-examine their breasts are no less likely to die of breast cancer, as compared to women who do not perform a breast self exam.

For the longest time now, women have been lead to believe that they should conduct a breast self exam every month.

A few years ago, the American Cancer Society has already tagged self-breast exams as being optional rather than a necessity.

A new way of doing things is with TLC or touch, look and check. This is the new rule of thumb that you need to live by, according to the British breast cancer foundation called Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

What you need to do is be aware of how your breasts feel normally. The minute that you feel a change, track it and if it does not go away, that is the time that you should seek the help of your doctor.

7. Wearing an underwire bra may be one of the many causes of cancer.

Sure, there are a lot of myths about how carcinogens are highly suspected when it comes to being the reasons for developing breast cancer. But the one thing which you may be doing on a regular basis that can actually cause such a disease to develop is wearing underwire bras.

Basically, in order for you to prevent cancer from happening, you do need to have a healthy lymphatic system. When you wear bras which have underwire in them, the circulation of the blood in the armpit area gets cut off.

As a result, your lymph nodes cannot properly eliminate the cancer-causing waste materials accumulated in the body - and this could be one of the reasons why your underwire bra is highly suspected when it comes to breast cancer development.

Now that you already have an idea about some of the common and not-so-common things that you know about a woman's breasts, you can take the precautionary measures in order to prevent breast cancer from developing in your body.

All in all, early detection of breast cancer, taking precautionary measures and being aware of the changes in your body are the things that you need to be armed with, if you want to win the fight against breast cancer.