I recently had the pleasure of joining Judy Cho on the Nutrition with Judy podcast for a conversation about some of the many factors that influence breast health.
We talked about the role that environmental toxins, diet, lymphatic health, detoxification pathways, and physiological stress can play, along with how you can take a more proactive approach to supporting your breast health.
We also discussed thermography and other screening options, the connection between breast and oral health, breast implants, bras, iodine, and some of the lifestyle choices that may help support healthier breast tissue.
If you want to better understand the factors that influence breast health and learn more about the options that are available to you, you can watch the full interview below.
Every October, we’re surrounded by pink ribbons and slogans urging women to “catch it early” and “save a life.”
But decades since these campaigns began, there’s still no cure – only more treatments.
I prefer to call it Breast Health Awareness Month because true awareness isn’t about fear or early detection of disease. It’s about prevention, education, and empowering women to make informed choices about the health of their breasts.
In any case, there is a growing body of research, which now suggests that x-ray mammography is doing more harm than good for the millions of women who subject themselves to these screenings.
Yet, most women still don’t know what mammograms can do to breast tissue, and they’re deprived of informed consent when it comes to knowing the true risks and benefits.
The good news is this information is readily available (if you know where to find it) and there are non-invasive, radiation-free alternatives available.
So, if you’re concerned about the dangers of mammograms, and you want to learn more about the risks they pose, and why thermography offers a safer alternative, then this article is for you.
The Hidden Dangers of Mammograms
Mammography has long been promoted as the gold standard for breast screening, but growing evidence now questions its safety and effectiveness.
The low-energy X-rays used in mammograms are a form of ionizing radiation – the same type known to cause cell mutations that can lead to cancer.
Studies published in respected journals, including The British Medical Journal, indicate that the radiation used in breast screening may be four to six times more carcinogenic than previously thought.
When mammograms begin at age 40 and are repeated annually, the cumulative radiation exposure can increase the risk of breast cancer by as much as 600% over a woman’s lifetime.
When Prevention Becomes the Problem
While mammography is sold as prevention, evidence suggests it may actually promote the very disease it claims to prevent.
Research shows that X-ray radiation can damage DNA and even alter healthy breast tissue, transforming low-risk or benign cells into aggressive, stem-like cancer cells capable of spreading.
In other words, what’s presented as an act of protection could be quietly planting the seeds of future harm.
The Epidemic of Overdiagnosis
Radiation isn’t the only problem, as overdiagnosis has become a silent epidemic.
Screening often detects small, non-life-threatening abnormalities such as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which is something many women might live with their entire lives without ever developing symptoms.
However, these findings often lead to unnecessary mastectomies, chemotherapy, radiation, and lifelong medication use.
According to a systematic review of incidence trends related to mammography, for every 2,000 women screened over 10 years, one life may be saved.
But at the same time, 10 women will receive unnecessary treatment, and hundreds will experience severe emotional trauma from false positives.
As far as I’m concerned, that’s a pretty heavy price to pay for something we refer to as routine screening.
The Informed Consent Problem
Despite these risks, major health organizations continue to lower the recommended age for mammograms – from 50 down to 40 years old – exposing millions more women to radiation.
Yet few are told the full truth.
This lack of transparency violates the basic principle of informed consent.
Women are encouraged, and even pressured, to undergo mammography without understanding its potential consequences or the alternatives available to them.
In any case, true health empowerment can only begin when we’re given all the facts, not just the ones that support a particular medical agenda.
A Safer, Smarter Alternative: Thermography
Fortunately, safer options exist.
Thermography, for example, is a radiation-free, non-invasive imaging technology that can detect early physiological changes in breast tissue – often years before a mammogram can identify a structural change.
Unlike mammography, thermography doesn’t compress the breast, emit radiation, or risk tissue damage. It simply measures temperature and blood-flow patterns, offering a window into your body’s natural responses.
For instance, thermography can help identify inflammation, hormonal imbalances, lymph congestion, and early vascular changes – all before disease takes hold.
Your Breast Health, Your Choice
You deserve options, you deserve informed consent, and you deserve care that empowers you instead of frightening you.
That’s why I ensure every woman I work with receives education, personalized support, and access to radiation-free thermography, which is a safe and effective tool for proactive breast health.
Why expose yourself to radiation when you can choose a gentle, preventative, and empowering approach instead?
In recent years, I’ve noticed most of the patients who come to me for breast thermography want to avoid mammograms.
This has been amazing to see, as more women are saying no to the radiation and compression of mammograms and the harm that comes with them.
What’s more, they’re looking for safer alternatives to prevent breast health issues, like ultrasound.
Thermography is great in this respect, as it works in tandem with an environmentally safe ultrasound.
But women are being denied access to just an ultrasound without first having a mammogram, and in many cases, insurance companies will refuse to pay for only an ultrasound.
With that in mind, let’s dive a bit deeper into the difference between mammograms and breast ultrasound, and explore why women should have access to this innovative form of screening.
Mammograms vs. Breast Ultrasound
Mammography has been the gold standard for decades, but the research continues to show that the harms of this procedure outweigh its benefits.
Here are a few common concerns related to mammograms:
Over-diagnosis and over-treatment
False positives and unnecessary procedures
Radiation exposure and painful compression
Limited accuracy for women with dense breasts
Tumors often found years after they start developing
On the other hand, breast ultrasound offers a non-invasive, radiation-free alternative to mammograms, which can:
Be more comfortable than other breast imaging techniques
Help determine if breast lumps are fluid-filled or solid
Offer greater accuracy for women with dense breasts
Provide additional information to guide biopsies
Reduce exposure to radiation
Exposing the Truth About Mammograms
I highly recommend the documentary, bOObs: The War on Women’s Breasts, which exposes the reality of mammograms.
Even the trailer, which you’ll find below, offers some eye-opening truths that might surprise you.
This film explores the ongoing debate around mammography as a breast cancer screening tool and discusses the fact that over the past three decades, its widespread use has been linked to the over-diagnosis of an estimated 1.3 million American women, leading to unnecessary interventions for cancers that may never have progressed.
Medical experts interviewed in the film discussed the potential harms tied to mammography, including radiation-induced cancers, trauma-related metastases, and avoidable treatments like chemotherapy, radiation, and mastectomies.
It also examines how industry interests and conflicts in medical research have limited broader access to alternative, radiation-free screening methods like thermography and ultrasound.
This documentary offers a couple of much-needed reminders for all women.
The first one is that there are non-invasive ultrasounds available today that can help detect cancer early – without causing harm.
Moreover, it also reminds us that you do have the option to have an ultrasound without a mammogram, even though you may have been told otherwise.
And here are a few places where you can go about doing that:
QT Imaging
The goal of QT Imaging is to provide highly accurate, 100% safe and painless breast imaging that can be used to identify cancer early to minimize invasiveness, increase the effectiveness of treatment, and eliminate unnecessary interventions – like additional imaging and biopsies – for women with benign breast conditions, most notably cysts.
SonoCiné
SonoCiné provides what’s known as Automated Whole Breast Ultrasound (AWBUS), which offers a consistent, repeatable scan of the whole breast including the axilla (underarm/lymph nodes).
HerScan
HerScan is a mobile breast ultrasound screening company that provides much-needed access to breast ultrasound testing with state-of-the-art technology used by highly experienced and certified sonographers and board-certified radiologists.
The HerScan program makes it convenient and affordable for women to be scanned, adding invaluable protection to their annual health routines.
Offering Breast, Upper Body, and Full Body Exams
Contact me to book your thermography appointment today.
When it comes to proactive health care, early detection is key.
Medical thermography is a powerful tool in holistic and preventative medicine circles.
But what exactly is medical thermography, what are the benefits of medical thermography, and why are more people turning to it?
Let’s break it down.
What Is Medical Thermography?
Medical thermography is a non-invasive diagnostic technique that uses a specialized infrared camera to detect heat patterns and blood flow in body tissues.
Because inflammation often produces more heat, thermography can highlight areas of concern – sometimes even before symptoms occur.
Top Benefits of Medical Thermography
1) Early Detection of Inflammation
Inflammation is the body’s early warning signal, often appearing before structural changes occur.
Early detection is key, as thermography can detect these heat patterns, typically before other imaging tests may show something is wrong.
This makes it especially useful for identifying early-stage issues such as:
Cardiovascular dysfunction
Breast tissue changes
Musculoskeletal injuries
2) Radiation-Free and Non-Invasive
Thermography is a no-contact, no-compression, and no-radiation option for:
Regular monitoring
FDA-cleared adjunctive screening
Preventative screening for women
Individuals with sensitivities or contraindications to radiation
3) Breast Health Monitoring
One of the most popular uses of thermography is for breast health.
It can detect subtle changes in breast tissue that may indicate the development of abnormal cells.
While it doesn’t replace mammograms, it can be a valuable complementary tool, particularly for:
Women with dense breast tissue
Those looking for a pain-free, radiation-free method of monitoring
Younger women not yet recommended for routine breast screening
4) Whole-Body Imaging
Thermography can be used to assess a wide range of conditions by capturing heat signatures across different regions of the body, including:
Dental infections
Thyroid dysfunction
Joint and muscle inflammation
Nerve damage (e.g. from diabetic neuropathy)
This whole-body approach provides a broader picture of systemic inflammation and imbalances.
5) Ideal for Preventative Care
Because thermography can identify physiological changes before structural changes occur, it’s an ideal tool for people focused on preventative wellness.
It supports early intervention strategies that can help you avoid more serious issues later.
6) Comfortable and Stress-Free
No contact. No compression. No pain. Thermography simply involves standing or sitting in front of a camera while the technician takes images.
It’s quick and comfortable, making it accessible for people who may feel anxious about traditional medical tests.
Not too long ago, I was invited to sit down with cancer recovery coach, Hayley Dubin, to talk about keeping your breasts healthy.
The conversation took place on her podcast, The Cancer Liberation Project, presented by reVIVE Wellness, and it focused on several aspects of natural breast health and the prevention of breast cancer, including:
Taking a proactive approach to breast health through diet, lifestyle changes, and plant-based supplementation
How thermography can help identify estrogen dominance
The underlying causes of hormonal imbalances
The risks associated with wearing bras
So, if you want to learn about keeping your breasts healthy and how this all relates to your overall well-being, you’re not going to want to miss this informative interview.
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Lauri Wakefield, who hosts the Inspiring Journeys podcast, to talk about living toxin-free.
Our discussion covered a ton of topics related to living toxin-free, and how that can help you improve your breast health, including:
How to reduce toxin exposure
The importance of self-education
Thermography vs. mammograms
Practical tips for a toxin-free lifestyle
Detoxification and hormonal balance
Endocrine disruptors and environmental toxins
So, if you want to know how to live a toxin-free life, and how that can benefit your breast health, then you don’t want to miss this informative episode, which you can listen to using the player below.
Every cell in your body requires iodine to keep it functioning properly.
Iodine is one of the most important minerals for healthy cellular and metabolic function.
This essential mineral is required throughout the body, especially in the thyroid gland, but also in breast, ovary, uterus, and prostate tissue.
After researchers discovered that iodine deficiency caused goiters, iodine was added to table salt.
Today, that often isn’t enough.
Crops are grown in iodine-depleted soil, iodine is no longer used in commercial baked goods, and studies show that dietary iodine levels have fallen by as much as 50%.
At the same time, our intake of iodine competitors like chlorine, fluoride, and bromide has all increased.
These toxic compounds lower the activity of iodine in the body by blocking iodine receptor sites, and all three are found commonly in both foods and the environment.
Chlorine is now widely used for water purification, fluoride is almost universally found in toothpaste and drinking water, and bromide replaced iodine in commercial baked goods and is common in soft drinks.
As a result, many experts believe that iodine support can be the missing intervention for optimal health.
Systems especially reliant on optimal levels of iodine are immune, breast, ovaries, prostate, brain, and perhaps the best known, the thyroid.
Dr. David Brownstein, the iodine guru, clearly lays out what we would expect to find in iodine-deficient individuals.
When iodine is deficient, nodules form in key organs leading to pre-cancerous conditions and then eventually to full-blown cancer.
He says, “Iodine’s main job is to maintain the normal architecture of those tissues. With iodine deficiency, the first thing that happens is you get cystic formation in the breasts, the ovaries, uterus, thyroid, prostate, and let’s throw in the pancreas in here as well, which is also increasing at epidemic rates – pancreatic cancer. Cysts start to form when iodine deficiency is there. If it goes on longer, they become nodular and hard. If it goes on longer, they become hyperplastic tissue, which is the precursor to cancer.”
I say that’s the iodine deficiency continuum.
Brownstein continues, “The good thing about iodine is, iodine has apoptotic properties, meaning it can stop a cancer cell from just continually dividing, dividing, dividing until it kills somebody. Iodine can stop this continuum wherever it catches it and hopefully reverse it, but at least put the brakes on what is happening.”
The Emerging Role of Iodine in Breast Health | Iodine – The Great Detoxifier
Iodine is a breast protector, and it promotes detoxification, lymph flow, and offers protection to the receptor sites.
But when iodine is deficient, estrogen can become imbalanced and dysfunctional.
A common link between fibrocystic breast and breast cancer is insufficient iodine and halide toxicity.
We are seeing an increase in uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, infertility, thyroid nodules, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer from iodine deficiency.
The good news is iodine turns on estriol, which is the positive estrogen that protects against estrogenic cancers.
As Dr. David Brownstein explained, iodine turns on natural cancer cell death, also known as apoptosis. Think of it as a kind of Pac-Man that eats up renegade cancer cells.
However, there are three forms of iodine that are the best.
For instance, the thyroid gland absorbs potassium iodide best, while breast tissue can better utilize molecular iodine.
Additionally, there is evidence that using sodium iodide enhances absorption of other forms of iodine.
Just remember that potassium iodide and sodium iodide are used for hormone balance and immune health, whereas molecular iodine is used for breast, prostate, colon, and cellular health.
And in my 13 years of working with breast health, I have seen remarkable changes in women’s breasts that were lumpy, cystic, and painful, and seen a reduction in lumps and cysts when women have used iodine as part of their daily supplementation.
In addition, Lugol’s Liquid Iodine 2% can also be used topically for lumps, cysts, and tender breasts, but it’s best to mix it with a carrier oil.
Castor oil also has many positive healing benefits, so you can mix the two, if you’d like.
At this point, you might be wondering, what are some iodine-rich foods?
For the vegetarians, dried prunes, white potatoes, navy beans, seaweed, and cranberries are a few that provide good sources of iodine.
Seafood, like canned tuna and salmon, and shellfish, are also great sources of iodine, along with boiled eggs, yogurt, certain types of cheese, and turkey breast.
However, you should be mindful of the source of the seafood, due to heavy metals.
Himalayan salt also contains a small amount of natural iodine, but it usually has less iodine than iodized salt, and most sea salt does not contain enough iodine to meet your daily needs.
When it comes to detecting breast cancer, the options for women in America are limited.
Our standard, conventional medical establishment’s over-emphasis on treatment has largely ignored the efficacy and value of prevention, instead choosing to focus on drugs and radiation over safer alternatives like breast thermograms.
This is a big part of the reason why modern medicine has failed to reduce disease rates, including those for breast cancer.
With that in mind, this is why it’s so important to educate women about the detection and prevention options they have and empower them to take control of their health.
As far as I’m concerned, prevention is the cure, and it’s our first line of defense against breast cancer.
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of getting a breast thermogram, I’ve included a video from Breast Thermography International below, which should tell you everything you need to know.
Offering Breast, Upper Body, and Full Body Exams
Contact me to book your thermography appointment today.
Many women, including some doctors, fear mammograms are causing over-treatment and mammogram radiation is resulting in more cases of cancer.
According to a study in The New England Journal of Medicine, between 1976 and 2008, 1.3 million U.S. women received unnecessary and invasive cancer treatments, including surgery, radiobiology, hormone therapy, and chemotherapy.
This is in large part due to routine mammograms detecting harmless tumors.
Other studies conducted in European countries have concluded that mammograms reduce the risk of death from cancer by less than 10% or not at all.
But when combined with anatomical testing, breast thermography can reduce the number of false positives and over-treatment of breast cancer by demonstrating whether a tumor is metabolically active or not.
Mammogram Radiation Puts Young Women at Risk
More than 20,000 cases of breast cancer have been reported annually in U.S. women under the age of 40.
Unfortunately, when cancer strikes a younger woman, it is typically a more aggressive form and is less likely to respond to treatment.
But despite this greater risk, younger women have been consistently neglected by traditional breast cancer screenings, and besides mammography, there is currently no other routine screening test for women under the age of 40.
Thermography, on the other hand, offers an ideal test for this age group, especially considering that it’s radiation-free.
If you’d like to learn more about the dangers of mammogram radiation, check out the video below from NutritionFacts.org.
Offering Breast, Upper Body, and Full Body Exams
Contact me to book your thermography appointment today.
A few weeks ago, I sat down with author and host of the A Quest for Well-Being podcast, Valeria T. Koopman, to talk about what you can do to ensure you have healthy breasts.
We had an amazing conversation, which covered many aspects of breast health, including:
Your relationship with your breasts
The benefits of breast thermography
The harmful effects of environmental estrogens
How your oral health can affect your breast health
Nutrition and supplementation for healthy breasts
So, if you’re looking to learn more about what you can do to have healthy breasts, including how radiation-free thermography can help you detect potential breast health issues as early as possible, then this is a video you cannot afford to miss.
