Many men may be surprised to learn they can get breast cancer. Male breast cancer can develop anytime, however it is most common among men who are 60 to 70 years old. The major problem is that breast cancer in men is often diagnosed later than breast cancer in women. This may be because men are less likely to be suspicious of something strange in that area.

 

Statistics

 

For every 100 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer, one man will be diagnosed as well. Those may seem like pretty good odds. Yet it still means in the U.S. alone, about 2,600 (about 1 percent) of all breast cancers are diagnosed in men and it will tend to be highly invasive.

 

Why?

 

Men have breast tissue that develops in the same way as breast tissue in women and is susceptible to cancer cells in the same way. Breast cancer in men is uncommon because male breasts have ducts that are less developed and are not exposed to growth-promoting female hormones. Just like in women, male breast cancer may begin in the ducts and spread to surrounding cells. As mentioned it is most commonly discovered at age 60-70 as it can often begin developing when testosterone levels begin to decline in the decade prior to that.

 

What is most shocking is the incidence of male breast cancer has been rising significantly over the last four decades.

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In his book The Anti-Estrogenic Diet, Ori Hofmekler discusses not only estrogen disrupters in our food sources, garden products, dry cleaning, etc. but how the feminization of certain species of fish due to environmental toxins including hormone mimicking chemicals are found in our streams and rivers. Perhaps these hormone mimicking chemicals disrupting the testosterone, progesterone, estrogen balance in men as well is the cause of the rise in breast cancer in men.

 

Because functional changes (physiological) precede structural changes (such as a tumor) it is vital we share with men to either have breast thermography beginning in their 50's or at the very least to immediately have a scan when any symptoms occur at any age.