Dense breasts are not considered an abnormal breast condition or a disease. However, dense breasts are a risk factor for breast cancer. That is, women with dense breasts have a higher risk of breast cancer than women with fatty breasts.
Women with dense breasts have a higher chance of getting breast cancer. The more dense your breasts are, the higher your risk. Scientists don't know for sure why this is true. Breast cancer patients who have dense breasts are not more likely to die from breast cancer than patients with non-dense (fatty) breasts.
Fibrous and glandular tissue are harder to see through on a mammogram, so your breast tissue may be called 'dense' if you have a lot of these tissues (and not as much fat). Having dense breast tissue is common. Some women have more dense breast tissue than others. For most women, breasts become less dense with age.
Understand what it means to have dense breast tissue
Glandular tissue is more dense (thicker and heavier) than fatty tissue. If your tissue is more glandular than fatty, you have dense breasts. “Density has nothing to do with breast weight, size or shape,” Dr. Attai says.
Women with dense breasts, but no other risk factors for breast cancer, are considered to have a higher risk of breast cancer than average. They may benefit from annual breast cancer screening.
50% of women have dense breast tissue, but it's more common in young women, especially those with a lower body mass index. “Genetics, body mass index and age are some of the main drivers.
Can I change my breast density? No — breast density is determined by genetics, age, menopause status and family history. Weight gain and certain medications can also influence your breast density.
“It's also very clear that breast density tends to be highest in younger women, premenopausal women, and for almost all women, it tends to go down with age.
Breast density changes with age, for example. On average, older women have lower density breast tissue than do younger women. The greatest change in density occurs during the menopause years. Breast density also changes with certain types of hormone therapies, such as hormone treatments for menopause.
In fact, the only way to tell whether you have dense breasts is via mammogram. The screening is recommended every one or two years for women starting in their forties or fifties, depending on individual preference and risk factors, according to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
This is different for individual women, but is generally higher when you are younger and tends to reduce as you age. Most women below the age of 50 have increased breast density compared with those aged over 50. International research shows that about 25% of women over the age of 60 continue to have dense breasts.
Breasts are called dense when a mammogram shows more fibrous tissue and less fat. Do dense breasts feel different? Dense breasts don't feel any different than breasts with more fatty tissue. This means you can't tell if you have dense breasts on your own or with a clinical breast exam.
Women who follow a regular Western diet of high-fat dairy products, red meat consumption, and high-sugar foods are at greater risk of maintaining dense breast tissue and are more inclined to develop breast cancer.
Fat content in what you eat and exercise do not directly change breast density. But if you lose or gain a lot of weight, your breasts can look more or less dense on your mammogram – though the amount of dense tissue will stay the same.
Why Do Breasts Get Bigger With Age? Technically, they don't. It's not age that makes your breast get bigger. It's weight gain—and people happen to gain weight as they age.
Higher density breasts are actually quite common — upwards of half of the women in the U.S. ages 40-74 have them. Young, thin women as well as women of a healthy weight are more apt to have dense breasts than obese women. Also, as women age, their breasts tend to become more fatty and less dense.
It's the density that matters most, since the more connective and milk duct tissue there is, the higher the risk of developing cancer. The size of your breasts has no impact on the density or vice versa.
If you are losing fatty tissue in your breasts, you will have increased breast density since there is less fatty tissue compared to glandular tissues. Denser breasts are linked to a higher risk of breast cancer. Women whose mammogram shows extremely dense breasts can get a mammogram call-back after weight loss.
Our study observed an approximate 8% increase in the relative amount of mammographic density with high alcohol intake, which is within range of other breast cancer risk factors known to modify mammographic density (range 2-10%) [1,2].
No. Breast pain or tenderness is not related to breast density. Breast pain that comes and goes is often because of changes in hormones due to your period and is most common on the sides of your breasts (near your arms and underarms).
However, women with dense breasts can consider following a dense breast tissue diet, which can help decrease breast density and have healthy breasts. We recommend: Eliminating caffeine. Decreasing or eliminating red meat.
While exercise can decrease the amount of fat in the breast, the glandular or dense breast tissue is not affected by exercise.
The good news – breast density can diminish over time. However, women whose breast density does not diminish over time are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer.
Studies suggest that vitamin D may reduce breast cancer risk and dietary vitamin D intake has been associated with reduced breast density.
Scientists believe vitamin D may play a crucial role in moderating breast cell growth, specifically stopping the growth of cancer cells. Learn more about how vitamin D benefits breast health and how to get it.