As if women didn’t have enough to deal with on the issue of hormone replacement theory, the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article today showing increased breast cancer from the use of antibiotics. I’ve avoided them for a decade or more because of candida and intestinal flora problems. Use Transfer Factor Plus and reserve antibiotics for real emergencies. A real emergency is your life is at risk.
This is the first hard data indicating that antibiotics have much worse effects than we previously imagined. Kudos to JAMA because this article is free.
Antibiotic Use in Relation to the Risk of Breast Cancer
Christine M. Velicer, PhD; Susan R. Heckbert, MD, PhD; Johanna W. Lampe, PhD, RD; John D. Potter, MD, PhD; Carol A. Robertson, RPh; Stephen H. Taplin, MD, MPH
JAMA. 2004;291:827-835.
The editorial response is also available:
Antibiotics and Breast Cancer—What’s the Meaning of This?
Roberta B. Ness, MD, MPH; Jane A. Cauley, DrPH
JAMA. 2004;291:880-881.
Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer diagnosed among women in the United States. Established risk factors include age, family history, reduced parity, earlier age at menarche, alcohol use, postmenopausal adiposity, and hormone therapy. In this issue of THE JOURNAL, Velicer and colleagues report another potential risk factor: the use of prescribed antibiotics. Among 2266 women with breast cancer, as compared with 7953 controls, the use of antibiotics was more common; the risk of breast cancer was greater with longer duration of antibiotic use and was consistent across antibiotic classes. This observation is potentially worrisome in that antibiotic exposure is common and sometimes nonessential. Thus, if real, the risk of breast cancer attributable to the use of antibiotics could be large and partially preventable.