The proposed regulations would require that women be informed if they have dense breast tissue and the significance of it with regard to the accuracy of their mammograms and breast cancer risk.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed new regulations yesterday to require mammography facilities to provide more and better information to patients and their doctors, especially for women with dense breast tissue, which can make it more difficult to detect breast cancer.

Mammograms of dense breasts — those with a higher proportion of fibroglandular tissue compared with fatty tissue — can be difficult to interpret. Dense breasts have also been identified as a risk factor for developing breast cancer, the FDA said in a press release from March 27, 2019.

The FDA is proposing specific language to explain to patients and healthcare providers how dense breasts can influence the accuracy of mammograms. The agency is also recommending that patients with dense breasts discuss with their doctors how this relates to their individual risk of breast cancer.

Under the proposed regulations, information regarding dense breasts will be included in the lay summary letter provided to patients and the medical report provided to their healthcare providers.

Dense Breasts — A Common Phenomenon Even Over 40

Dense breasts are common. Nearly one-half of women age 40 and older who get mammograms are found to have dense breasts, the American Cancer Society says. Breast density can be inherited. Factors that reduce it include increasing age and having children.

Women with dense breasts are often advised to have an ultrasound examination, in addition to a mammogram. Ultrasound typically picks up about 3 cases of cancer per 1,000 people whose cancer did not show up in mammograms.

Regulations Would Also Tighten Mammography Standards

The FDA’s proposed amendments would also modernize mammography quality standards and put the FDA in a better position to regulate and take action when violations are found. Some of these proposed changes include:

• Giving the FDA explicit authority to notify patients and healthcare professionals when a mammography doesn’t meet quality standards
• Requiring the mammography facilities use only components approved or cleared for mammography
• Strengthening record-keeping to improve access to mammography records

The FDA believes the new rules can help prevent, detect, and treat breast cancer, said Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD, principal deputy commissioner for the FDA. “Helping to ensure patient access to information about the impact that breast density and other factors can have on the risk for developing breast cancer is an important part of a comprehensive breast health strategy,” she said in a statement.

The proposed rule will be published March 28, 2019, in the Federal Register, and then will be open 90 days for public comment.

Breast cancer detection is a multifaceted issue that requires an individualized approach. Each person must make their own decision and stay aware of the most current research. Mammography and Thermography can be beneficial detection tools, depending on the circumstances. Use of one or the other, or both, depends on a variety of factors, such as age, history of disease, disease status, type of cancer, density of breast tissue and more. Remember that Thermography or Mammograms or breast exams cannot diagnose cancer. If something suspicious is found on a mammogram, or by ultrasound, breast exam or thermography, the definitive diagnosis can only be done by biopsy.

For years, new research has called into question the effectiveness of mammography. As a result, the American Cancer Society (ACS) changed their stance on mammograms in October 2015. ACS previously recommended that annual mammograms begin at 40 years of age. But now with increased knowledge of the limitations and potential harms of mammography, the ACS recommends that annual screening shouldn’t start until age 45 and should change to every two years starting at 55

Thermography is a non-invasive way to study the physiology of the human body (as differentiated from ultrasound and mammograms, which study the structure of the body). Thermography simply detects subtle variations in skin temperature using an infrared camera in a temperature-controlled room, which can provide clues to what is going on beneath the surface of the skin. Humans are infrared beings and they give off energy in the form of heat. An infrared camera (think night-vision) is heat-sensitive. Whereas a mammogram emits ionizing radiation through your compressed breast tissue, on a thermogram you radiate your energy toward the camera. Thus, nothing is passed through your body. Another very common example of using heat to detect illness is getting your temperature checked at a doctor’s visit because fever (excess heat) implies infection or dis-ease.

Left: A abdomen covered with wet clay on a patient the way Hippocrates would have used it, quickly dried around the umbilicus (belly button) indicating excess heat.
Right: Thermogram showing excess heat in the exact same area around the umbilicus.

Hippocrates is considered the “father of modern medicine” as we know it. You may have heard of the Hippocratic Oath that present-day doctors still take, promising to “do no harm”. Something less well-known is that Hippocrates is also the “father of thermography.” In 400 AD, Hippocrates smeared wet clay over his patients’ bodies looking for patterns in the clay as it dried. He noticed that some areas dried more quickly than others, because of excess internal heat. He is quoted as saying “in whatever part of the body excess heat or cold is felt, there is disease to be discovered.

Cancer is fed by the body’s own blood supply. Thermography can detect the increased heat that results from the early development of vascularity (angiogenesis) to feed the cancer. When cancer occurs in our body the normal cell-death mechanism (called apoptosis or regulated cell death) turns off. The cell “forgets” to die and continues growing, untamed and unchecked.³ Because this process begins on a cellular level, no solid mass forms right away, only a small gathering of cells. Only after growing for a certain number of years does a cancerous tumor become large enough to finally be seen on a mammogram.

The chart below was developed from Dr. Michael Retsky’s cancer-growth research showing that the possible observation times for a mammogram to find a tumor are near the end of the tumor’s growth, which does not constitute early detection. His research found that breast cancer typically doubles in volume in about 100 days. Since mammography is usually able to find breast tumors at approximately 1 cm, he estimates the usual time to detect breast cancer is at 30 doublings (of 100 days each)-a total of 8 years. He concludes that “the possible observation times in breast cancer is limited to between the 30th and 40th doublings or at most the last 25% of the growth history of a tumor.⁴

Average Growth Rate of Breast Cancer Tumor
Cancer cells double in number on average every 90 days
90 days      2 cells
1 year        16 cells
2 years       256 cells
3 years       4,096 cells
4 years       65,536 cells
5 years       1,048,576 cells             Still Undetectable with mammography
6 years       16,777,216 cells
7 years       268,435,456 cells
8 years       4,294,967,296 cells  
Doubled 32 times* and normally detected by mammogram at this stage

Mammography

Mammograms were called into question because of their large number of false positives, as well as the issue of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. If mammograms were truly helping diagnose cancer early they should improve overall breast cancer mortality rates-but there are some studies indicating that they don’t. Most often breast cancers are found in the upper outer area of the breasts, in between the breast tissue and the armpit⁶ which cannot be visualized on a mammogram.

Mammograms have an average sensitivity of 80% in women over 50, which drops to 60% in women under 50

. Hormone usage decreases the sensitivity of mammograms. In addition, since mammograms are not able to differentiate between a solid tumor and fluid-filled cyst or calcification, women who have scar tissue or dense or fibrocystic breasts have a tendency to get called back to have a repeat mammogram (resulting in more radiation exposure) because of difficulties reading the scans. In spite of all of this, there is a strong commitment by the National Cancer Institute to reassure women that the benefits of mammography outweigh the risks. But repeated X-ray exposure can cause cancer

Thermography

Thermography is a reasonable alternative for women who want to avoid the radiation exposure from a mammogram, for those who have implants (since it does not damage them) or for women who have had other breast surgeries resulting in scar tissue. It is also a great option for women who are considered high risk, are taking hormones, are younger or have dense breasts. Additionally, thermography has no harmful side effects so it can be used as often as desired.

Thermography can detect abnormalities of the female breast and can also examine breast tissue in men. Another advantage is that the entire chest is observed (including underarm lymphatics) and there is no compression of tissue, which can sometimes spread cancer cells. Thermography can also monitor treatment effectiveness and can distinguish between benign and malignant tissue in women with fibrocystic breasts.

“Thermography offers a safe, noninvasive procedure that would be valuable as an adjunct to mammography”

There are over 800 peer-reviewed articles supporting the effectiveness of thermography⁰ and there are many well-known supporters of thermography including Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Joseph Mercola and Dr. Veronique Desaulniers. Thermography was also most recently featured in Episode 2 of The Truth About Cancer (an online documentary series). Thermography was even approved by the FDA as an adjunctive test to mammography in 1982.

A 2003 study indicated “Thermography offers a safe, noninvasive procedure that would be valuable as an adjunct to mammography in determining whether a lesion is benign or malignant with a 99% predictive value”. A study published in 2008 by The American Society of Breast Surgeons concluded that DITI (digital infrared thermal imaging, or thermography) was a valuable adjunct to mammography and ultrasound especially in women with dense breast parenchyma [tissue] because of its 97% sensitivity. The benefit of doing thermography along with mammography are clear to see in the results of Canadian research showing the sensitivity rate of mammography alone was increased to 95% when infrared imaging was added.

In 2013, researchers Kolaric et. al. found thermography to have the probability of a correct finding in 92% of cases. They concluded that “breast cancer remains the most prevalent cancer in women and thermography exhibited superior sensitivity. We believe that thermography should immediately find its place in the screening programs for early detection of breast carcinoma, in order to reduce the sufferings from this devastating disease.”

According to women’s health specialist, Dr. Christine Horner, thermography can “detect breast cancers much earlier than any other available technology. Because blood vessels ordinarily start to grow before any other significant changes and tumor growth, a thermogram can ‘see’ these abnormal physiological processes as early as 5-10 years before a cancer can be seen by a mammogram, MRI, or ultrasound or felt by a physical exam. What is most exciting is that when these abnormal processes are caught this early they are reversible.”  This gives time for natural interventions such as diet, supplementation and lifestyle changes like stress management to heal the body.

Most women use thermography in addition to mammography and/or ultrasound. They believe thermal imaging should be “viewed as a complementary, not competitive, tool to mammography and ultrasound” that can increase the effectiveness of those two structural tests by identifying patients having the highest risk level.

Thermography is not a replacement for mammography because “there is no one test that can detect 99-100% of all cancers.” In addition, thermography and mammography “are ‘looking’ for completely different pathological processes” because one tests physiology and the other tests anatomy. Lastly, “thermography is far more sensitive than mammography; however, some slow growing non-aggressive cancers will only be detected by mammography.”¹

Hormonal imbalances are so incredibly common these days- so much so that even young kids are dealing with them! A majority of doctors or natural practitioners out there approach hormonal imbalances with actual hormones.  I approach this issue by always identifying the root cause.

What is the ROOT CAUSE of hormonal imbalances?

If your hormones are out of balance, adding in all of the separate hormones you are deficient in makes absolutely no sense to me. Besides the fact that this is not how we’re meant to keep our hormones balanced, this can be extremely hard on the body, especially the liver and adrenals. Hormonal imbalances have 3 main root causes: a sluggish liver, stressed adrenals, and a copper<> iron imbalance (and these 3 are all connected too!).

Why is the Liver so important in hormonal health?

Our livers have about 500 different functions in the body. One of the main functions is to keep our hormones balanced, both by creating hormones as needed and filtering out excess hormones that we either make or are exposed to. Our livers also make a majority of our cholesterol but can only do so if it is functioning properly. ALL OF OUR HORMONES ARE MADE FROM CHOLESTEROL.

ALL of the hormones that run the adrenals need cholesterol to be made. The lie that cholesterol is bad for us is a primary reason why we are all so deficient in hormones. We need cholesterol to create pregnenolone, which in turn can be used to make the rest of the hormones like estrogen, cortisol, progesterone, and aldosterone. But we need healthy livers to regulate cholesterol. We have a completely obvious root cause here to address, but most docs/practitioners will go straight to the individual hormones (again, “natural pharmacology” or “allopathic natural health“: treat the symptoms, not the cause).  If you are dealing with estrogen dominance, it is more likely that your liver, gut or thyroid and adrenals are under functioning, resulting in your body having trouble clearing the excess estrogen- if you add progesterone to antagonize/balance estrogen, you are placing stress on an already imbalanced body. The problem in the first place was that the body couldn’t get rid of the excess estrogen. Heal your liver,  gut, thyroid and adrenals to fix your hormones.

How is  copper<>iron  imbalance related to hormonal health?

In the mineral balancing world, we know that estrogen and copper go hand in hand, just like zinc goes along with testosterone and progesterone. Women are copper dominant and men are zinc dominant. When the liver and adrenals are stressed, they have a VERY hard time keeping copper and zinc balanced.

I mentioned above how adding progesterone to “fix” and estrogen dominance issue makes no sense if the liver has obvious mineral imbalances in the first place: Messing with the individual hormones or nutrients doesn’t solve the root issue, which is that the liver is under functioning and the minerals aren’t able to balance.

Balancing copper/iron is one of the main things I focus on for most of my clients. I RARELY see someone with a balanced copper<>iron metabolism. That is how common this issue is. Keeping copper balanced involved happy adrenals and livers, as well as true vitamin A (from cod liver oil, beef liver, eggs, and butter- all things that many people didn’t eat growing up as there has been fear mongering on each of these foods!). Those that have been vegetarian/vegan, been on birth control of any sort, had copper pipes in their house, or women that just recently had a child are the most common people to be effected by a copper<> Iron imbalance.

When we are dealing with a sluggish liver and stressed adrenals, it is hard for the body to utilize vitamin A, which is one of the keys needed for making ceruloplasmin, the copper binding protein. When ceruloplasmin cannot be made, copper can build up in the body (as excess, unbound copper rises, estrogen tends to rise as well). This creates a huge issue in the body: and results in a lot of symptoms.

How are the adrenals related to hormonal health?

When people start to feel fatigued or just not as well as they used to, most people will automatically tell them to go test their thyroid. In reality, the adrenals play an even bigger role in overall health as they are higher up on the totem pole in the endocrine system (AKA the HPA Axis!). The adrenals play a big role in metabolism, hormonal balance, and overall vitality.

The adrenal glands are two little pea-sized glands that sit on top of the kidneys. The outer part of the adrenal gland, the adrenal cortex, secretes the corticosteroid hormones including cortisol that monitor the body’s metabolism, inflammation, and blood pressure. The adrenal medulla is the inner part which secretes adrenaline and noradrenaline, hormones that respond to stressors. When the adrenal medulla fires, it increases the heart rate, boosts blood flow to the muscles, and creates a surge of glucose (blood sugar) in the bloodstream. This mechanism evolved so we could draw from a quick burst of energy in a fight-or-flight situation. The adrenals are extremely vital to our health and well-being!

This fight-or-flight response can becoming chronic for many people, and eventually the adrenals can get into burnout

How to truly fix a hormonal balance

1) Heal your Liver and get that bile flowing!

2) Heal your Adrenals. Copper<>iron dysregulation

3) Balance your minerals. As mentioned above, copper<>iron dysregulation is involved in hormonal issues. Get an HTMA and a blood panel details of recommended blood test are available from  Thermography Clinic Ireland. HTMA also can give us insight on how well your adrenals, thyroid, and liver are working which also plays a big role in hormonal health.

4) Reducing environmental toxins is also an essential step to healing your liver and hormones.  

5) SLEEP!!!! Sleep is perhaps the number 1 most critical thing needed to heal from every illness. 

“You cannot pour from an empty cup.”  If you are healing from any illness, you have to focus on yourself as much as you can in order to truly heal.  This may be hard for a lot of people but it is crucial!

 Healing the entire body can take time- but that is what we should be aiming for in the long term: to actually heal the body, not just cover up symptoms or pop pills all day.

The HTMA gives us critical information to enable us to truly BALANCE nutrients and restore body function. not just supplement with synthetic forms. Restoring health balancing and nourishing the body with foods, herbs, and even topical methods of raising mineral levels. The whole body needs to be considered, it is important to nourish and replenish  reserves to restore health  using nutrients in their NATURAL state (not lab made), and truly healing the body instead of getting dependent on supplements forever. The more HTMAs I see, the more I realize that synthetic supplements often  never actually fix levels- either they stayed super low or they were incredibly high (because the body could not utilize them!).

Supplements can all create a cascade of changes in the body that can take months to fix. Balance is crucial, and the easiest way to find the perfect balance of these nutrients is through nutrient dense foods, herbs, and whole food supplements. We can no longer ignore that we need to heal the gut and liver as well- Healing the entire body can take time- but that is what we should be aiming for in the long run: to actually heal the body, not just cover up symptoms or pop pills.

WHY FOOD IS MEDICINE

Food isn’t important just for vitamins and minerals. There are SO many other components to food that you will never find in synthetic supplements: phytochemicals, fiber, fat, protein, carbs, bioflavonoids, carotenoids, plant pigments, amino acids, fatty acids, isothicyanates. indoles, coumarins, antioxidants, enzymes, and more! Some of these components (like bioflavoinoids) used to be considered vitamins all on their own because of their importance to our health.

Many of these components have been studied in their roles to help to protect against cancer and other serious illnesses. However, most of these studies show that they work best when in a WHOLE FOOD and not as an isolated substance, and especially not in very high doses. However, we shouldn’t need studies to prove that food is healthy  – What has happened to common sense ?

WHY I LOVE HTMA

HTMA is gaining popularity in the natural health world, but using it in a “holistic” manner isn’t as common as you’d think. Many Practitioners are working with synthetic supplements and allopathic thinking.

Reading an HTMA is not like a blood test. Meaning, high levels don’t always mean high, and low levels don’t always mean you need to add more of that nutrient in. It is meant to be viewed as a whole- the levels, the ratios, and the person that is being tested. The value is in the interpretation you get from a qualified practitioner.

HTMA SHOWS A LONGER STRETCH OF TIME THAN OTHER TESTS:

Blood, saliva, urine, and stool samples are only able to show that exact moment in time that they were tested. They are a snapshot of what is going on, and they can change significantly within minutes or hours. A hair sample shows us about 3-4 months of time so it gives a MUCH better view on how you are using your minerals.

HTMA is not a test for 1 time use- things can change quickly when you are starting a plan, and external factors can start to change results too (especially stress!).

HTMA TESTS FOR A LOT WITH JUST A SMALL AMOUNT OF HAIR:

Minerals that HTMA tests for:

• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Sodium
• Potassium
• Copper
• zinc
• phosphorus
• iron
• manganese
• chromium
• cobalt
• boron
• selenium
• sulfur
• molybdenum
• and 14 trace minerals including lithium and germanium

HEAVY METALS:

• Antimony
• Uranium
• Mercury
• Arsenic
• Aluminum
• Lead
• Cadmium
• Beryllium

WITH ALL OF THESE MINERAL LEVELS, WE CAN GET AN IDEA ON THESE ISSUES BASED ON THE RATIOS BETWEEN THE MINERALS:

• Metabolic Rate/ Nervous system health: Calcium/Phosphorus
• Vitality, Adrenals, and Life/Death Ratio: Sodium/Potassium
• Thyroid : Calcium/Potassium
• Hormone (Estrogen/testosterone/progesterone): Zinc/Copper
• Adrenals: Sodium/Magnesium
• Blood Sugar/Cardiovascular Health: Calcium/Magnesium

MINERALS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR OUR HEALTH:

Minerals are needed for millions of enzymes as co-factors, inhibitors or even as the enzyme themselves. Enzymes are what keeps our bodies running. When we are low on minerals or if they are imbalanced, our bodies cannot physically function correctly. We look at the whole picture with HTMA- levels, ratios, and the person’s individual symptoms. It is one of the most valuable tests that anyone can do for their health.

OTHER TESTS?

There are a few tests that I think can be helpful at times, but when you start to realize the importance of basic foundational care (gut, liver, minerals, etc), you realize that HTMA is a great start for everyone.. It is one of the most valuable tests that anyone can do for their health. I personally accompany all HTMA’s with a  special blood test,  together these tests give invaluable information on cellular metabolism and function. The HTMA test and the recommend blood test, when used properly can provide vital information to allow us restore health and vitality.