Monday, January 26, 2009

I'd like to save my boobies, kthnx

I come from a family of huge, luscious boobies, and breast cancer. Thankfully, my grandma does breast cancer surgery, and along with my GP monitors my screenings.
However, a family propensity for Estrogen Receptor positive (ER+) tumors (my dad's 2 sisters and 2 of his cousins have already dealt with those) is not the only danger.

My environment is full of estrogen receptor agonists (an agonist is any molecule that binds to a receptor and elicits a response) that can increase my chances of getting one of those tumors. So I've been, slowly but surely, removing all the ER agonist containing stuff from my life.


  • I don't reheat anything in plastic - Plastic is made flexible by adding small molecules like phtalates and Bisphenol A. These are released if the plastic is heated, cracked, or if a liquid remains in it for quite a while. The solution: bowls and containers made of glass, food-grade stainless steel, or lead-free ceramics.
  • I am phasing out my cosmetics and personal care products (shampoos, conditioners, face and body wash, etc.) that contain parabens (like methyl parabezoic acid), placental extracts, or benzophenons. I have to give up the St. Ives apricot scrub and am not pleased.

For those of you equally concerned about reducing the risk of brest cancer, Cornell's Sprecher Institute has written a very nice article explaning the research done to ascertain this. They have videos explaining things too, but I have no idea how to embed them here. Go watch!

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the link to the article, for some reason, I think that it may one day save my life.
    There is a history of breast cancer on both sides of the family and I want to keep my big boobs.

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