Can Preteens Take Steps to Reduce the Risk of Breast Cancer?

May 30, 2006 — -- In today's Wall Street Journal, health columnist Tara Parker-Pope puts forth an intriguing idea about cancer prevention: To reduce the risk of developing breast cancer, young girls and teenagers should exercise frequently and not eat too much junk food.

In addition, she says, parents should discuss with their daughters the many health risks of drinking too much alcohol (there's some evidence that heavy drinking at a young age ups the risk of breast cancer) and how using hormonal birth control slightly increases the risk of getting breast cancer.So the choices young girls make about diet, exercise, alcohol consumption and birth control, Parker-Pope argues, can affect how breast tissue develops and possibly "have a particularly big impact on a girl's lifetime risk."

How correct is this premise? Should parents and their young daughters really worry about breast cancer?

Breast cancer experts queried by ABC News seem to support the column's ideas in general -- after all, exercise is rarely a bad idea -- but they did point out that many of the potential behavioral risk factors for developing breast cancer are weak at best, and pale in comparison to genetic or family risk factors.

Perhaps the strongest point the column makes is that the more estrogen a woman has circulating in her system, the more at risk she is of developing breast cancer. Anything to lower estrogen, therefore, will presumably help, although there is a lack of data supporting this notion when it pertains to very young girls, experts point out.

Exercising a lot at a young age probably (but not definitely) lowers estrogen levels in two ways: by reducing the risk of obesity (estrogen is stored in fat) and by slowing hormonal activity in general, which delays menstruation.

This is just a theory, said Dr. Harold Burstein, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

"There is substantial interest in looking at hormonal factors in girls and young women as contributors to breast cancer. And there are many excellent reasons for girls to be athletic, including teamwork, friendships, weight control, cardiovascular fitness, and relaxation," he said. "However, there are no data that sports will necessarily affect their risk of breast cancer."