By Ulrika G. Gerth Correspondent The Gloucester Daily Times Sun Oct 02, 2011, 11:28 PM EDT
To Susan Wadia-Ells, the section on breast cancer prevention on the website of the American Cancer Society is a bone-chilling read.
Nowhere is there a mention of vitamin D3, which, according to several studies, is a crucial component in significantly reducing the risk of developing breast cancer. Raising awareness of the vitamin's benefits is also at the heart of the Essex County Busting Breast Cancer Initiative, a pilot program by Wadia-Ells's nonprofit organization, The National Breast Cancer Prevention Project, also known as Know Breast Cancer.
Essex County has one of the highest rates of breast cancer in the country, and to Wadia-Ells, who lives in Manchester, it is the ideal place to begin hammering home the message that there are options beyond mammograms and drugs to "stop breast cancer before it starts."
"It's very exciting, but also terrifying," said Wadia-Ells. "We're at a point where we can make paradigm changes in this culture. They're really talking about eradicating breast cancer."
Boiled down to three key points — memorize your vitamin B3 blood level, stop using contraceptive drugs if you are over 40 and eat low-hormone foods — the initiative will name 35 team leaders, one from each Essex County, including Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester and Essex, to carry out the campaign.
Gloucester and surrounding communities can also expect to see public forums and workshops later this fall and winter, leading up to the national release of Wadia-Ells' book, "Busting Breast Cancer" next year.
Wadia-Ells blames the "thriving, booming, for-profit" breast cancer industry for ignoring or dismissing studies that show vitamin D supplements can mean the difference between developing the disease or not. If women kept their vitamin D3 levels at 60-80 nanograms per milliliter of blood, 75 percent of breast cancer occurrnces could be prevented, according to one study.
Although the vitamin D3 movement is growing, there are few efforts across the country like the Essex County Initiative, said Carole Baggerly, director of the California-based Grassroots Health, a public organization exclusively dedicated to increasing awareness of vitamin D benefits, especially breast cancer reduction. And it is why Baggerly said the Initiative is so significant.
"It continues to appall me how few people are aware, so an awareness campaign is exactly what's needed," Baggerly said. "Part of the lack of awareness is that people don't think much about it until it happens, so why be aware?"
Few areas are as hard hit as the east coast of Massachusetts. Cape Cod and Nantucket have the highest rates of breast cancer, well above the national average of 121 incidents per 100,000 people.
Essex County is nearly even with the state average of 133 incidents per 100,000 people — a number that lands the Bay State in seventh place overall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There are no studies that pinpoint why certain areas are worse off than others, but some have found links between affluence and the disease.
Wadia-Ells put it more bluntly: "Having abundance, having affluence in this chemicalized, drugized society of ours ratchet up your risk."
She believes many women are exposed to toxic pesticides, pollutants and chemicals in anything from cleaning supplies to hair products. The American Cancer Society maintains there is no clear link between breast cancer and certain chemicals in the environment, although more research is needed.
Add birth control pills instead of low or no estrogen IUDs, high estrogen foods and inadequate levels of vitamin D3, and the risk of developing breast cancer increases, Wadia-Ells said.
Lisa Vincent, a volunteer and Rockport resident, strove to drive that message home two weeks ago at a soft launch of the initiative. Vincent has no personal experience with breast cancer, but has seen friends suffer and said she has always felt uneasy about seeing the pink ribbon on unhealthy products.
She met Wadia-Ells in May and was intrigued. She started taking vitamin D3 supplements and has decided to forego another mammogram in favor of a thermo gram, a method that uses digital infrared imaging.
"I hope my children — I have two teenage daughters — won't have to worry about breast cancer," Vincent said.
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