Taking vitamin supplements may not be wise. It is better to satisfy nutritional needs with foods, as a healthful diet provides the proper balance of vitamins and minerals. Some studies have shown that taking supplements can actually increase cancer risk. A recent one on the effects of vitamin E supplementation on prostate cancer risk found that taking it in pill form may have slightly increased the risk for this disease. The American Institute for Cancer Research did an analysis of all the studies on vitamin supplements and cancer, and their recommendation is to eat a diet rich in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables to get the necessary vitamins and minerals — as well as other cancer-fighting chemicals. There is considerable evidence that a healthy lifestyle — including a healthful diet — can reduce breast cancer risk and recurrence. www.ReduceBreastCancerRisk.com Getting enough vitamin D is important for women because deficiencies in this vitamin have been associated with breast cancer risk. Sunlight and fortified foods are the best source of this vitamin, and there is some in eggs and some fish.

This article makes a very important point that is too often missed. Double mastectomy reduces the risk of breast cancer by 90%, but does not eliminate it. All of the breast tissue can not be removed when a mastectomy is done, and breast cancer can develop in what remains. In Christina Applegate’s situation, this may have been the wisest course of action. She developed breast cancer young, has a family history, and has the gene that increases risk. But I hope women who don’t have as great a risk would be inspired by her action to have both breasts removed because they think it will prevent breast cancer. There are other ways to reduce risk. Regular exercise, for example, reduces risk by around 30% — and combining that with a healthy diet reduced the rate of recurrence by 50% in one study. Tamoxifen reduces risk by 50%, and no one knows how much a woman might be able to reduce her risk if she combined that with lifestyle changes that are known to lower breast cancer risk (www.ReduceBreastCancerRisk.com).