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STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- There are a significant number of drawbacks to consistent mammograms, and research demonstrates this test does not reduce your risk of death from the disease
- Mammograms, used to detect breast cancer, employ ionizing radiation that carries a risk of developing cancer; 3D mammography, also called breast tomosynthesis, uses more radiation to achieve sharper images
- Data show after 10 mammograms you have a 50% to 60% risk of receiving a false positive result, potentially necessitating further testing with more radiation or even treatment
- You may be able to prevent 75% to 90% of breast cancers through lifestyle changes, such as reducing exposure to hazardous toxins, seeking out organic products, severely reducing refined sugar and fructose, and limiting protein
Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published December 20, 2017.
There are a significant number of drawbacks to having consistent mammograms. Although your doctor may say that having a mammogram may reduce your risk of dying by 20%,1 you’d be surprised by how that percentage is calculated.
As explained by Dr. Andrew Lazris and environmental scientist Erik Rifkin, Ph.D., for every 1,000 women who do not get mammograms, five will die from breast cancer. For every 1,000 women who do get regular mammograms, four will die.
The difference between those two groups is 20%, or the one person whose life is saved by getting a mammogram. A 2017 study from the Netherlands demonstrates that no matter how this number was calculated, it is likely not accurate.2 What’s worse, the reverse side of the equation is that more women are actually harmed by the procedure or undergo unnecessary treatment as a result of false positives.
Mammograms Are Not Saving Lives
The study analyzed the reason fewer women are dying from breast cancer in the Netherlands after an aggressive screening program was instituted in 1989, including regular mammograms.3Screening programs make the assumption that early detection is easier to treat and will result in better outcomes. Participants in the study were Dutch women who were screened every other year between 1989 and 2012. Nearly 8 million women were included in the data analysis.
The research was led by Dr. Philippe Autier from the University of Strathclyde Institute of Public Health. The intention was to determine if regular screening with a mammogram would affect the number of advanced cases of breast cancer detected and the number of deaths from the disease.4