October 1, 2015
Today marks the beginning of breast cancer awareness month and the inundation of pink campaigns. We have grandmothers, mothers, aunts, and friends who have their own stories of fighting. Media and doctors alike start putting the bug in women’s ears as early as their 20’s.
Breast cancer is something that affects us all and we hear about from various outlets throughout the years. Much of the conversation and rhetoric is shaped around early detection and regular mammograms.
Mammograms have been around for decades and their efficacy is being questioned. Switzerland has even abolished the practice.
But are mammograms doing as much good as we have been led to believe?
More than two years ago, Switzerland abolished mammogram screening programs. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the Swiss Medical Board was mandated to prepare a review of mammography screening in January 2013. The team was comprised of a medical ethicist, a clinical epidemiologist, clinical pharmacologist, an oncologic surgeon, a nurse scientist, a lawyer, and a health economist.
Their findings were quite telling and led to Switzerland abolishing mammography screening programs. Their findings can be summed up quite simply:
1. Outdated medical trials
2. The benefits did not clearly outweigh the harms
3. Women’s perceptions of mammography benefits do not match reality
Dr. Mercola, natural health expert, details more reasons why mammograms are not all they are cracked up to be:
“Under normal circumstances, the Swiss Medical Board reported that for every breast-cancer death prevented in US women over a 10-year course of annual screening beginning at 50 years of age:
- 490 to 670 women are likely to have a false positive mammogram with repeat examination
- 70 to 100 women have an unnecessary biopsy
- 3 to 14 women have an over-diagnosed breast cancer that would never have become clinically apparent
This lack of clear benefit, and evidence of apparent harm, was enough for them to recommend abolishing mammography-screening programs. You might be surprised to learn, however, that for some women the effectiveness of mammograms is even less… or poses an even greater risk of harm. Up to 50 percent of women have dense breast tissue, which makes mammograms very difficult to decipher. Dense breast tissue and cancer both appear white on an X-ray, making it nearly impossible for a radiologist to detect cancer in these women. It’s like trying to find a snowflake in a blizzard.
Breast density laws have now been passed in California, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, and Texas, making it mandatory for radiologists to inform their patients who have dense breast tissue that mammograms are basically useless for them. A law is now being considered at a federal level as well.”
But will the U.S. continue promoting mammograms in the media and in campaigns as the end-all be-all of cancer detection?
Remember that there are natural methods that one can use preventatively as well as. Using nutrition response testing, The Spring Center for Natural Medicine is able to pinpoint whether your health problems are caused by toxic metals, chemicals, immune stressors, food stressors or even scars (that interfere with your nervous system).
Call us today at 512-445-7373 if you would like to schedule a health evaluation and take a proactive and natural approach to getting healthy today so you can stay healthy your whole life.