The causes of this disease are still not fully known, but medical research has identified a number of risk factors that can increase a woman’s chances of getting breast cancer. Knowing these ‘risks’ is important. It can help you better understand your chances of developing breast cancer and also the steps that you need to take to protect yourself from it. However, what you must remember that whilst some women have many risks, they may never get breast cancer whilst others with lesser risk may be diagnosed with the disease. Unfortunately the two most well established risk factors are ‘being a woman’ and ‘getting older’

Top risk factors for breast cancer:

1. Being a woman
2. Getting older
3. Family or previous history of breast cancer
4. Being overweight
5. Not breast feeding
6. No children or first child after 35
7. Menopause before the age of 55 ( check this)
8. Use of birth control pills
9. Consuming more than one drink of alcohol per day
10. Having your period before the age of 12
11. Dense breasts or high bone density