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Mammogram screenings declining in key groups of younger women · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: It is time now for your weekend medical roundup, from
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  Speaker 1: breast cancer screenings to a brain booze from cooking at home.
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  Speaker 1: I'm joined now by doctor Jessica Sheppard, chief Medical officer
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  Speaker 1: of HERS for more. Doctor Shepherd, thanks for being with us.
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  Speaker 1: Let's start with mammogram screenings declining and key groups of
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  Speaker 1: younger women, just as breast cancer rates are rising in
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  Speaker 1: women under the age of fifty, So why is this happening?
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  Speaker 1: And let's talk about the importance of getting screened.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, let's start with the importance of being screened first.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that when we look at Mammograham, it's
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  Speaker 2: important to understand what a screening test exactly is. A
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  Speaker 2: screening test is something that the entire population can do
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  Speaker 2: to decrease the risk of a disease because we have
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  Speaker 2: findings that we will see. But with mammogram particularly, this
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  Speaker 2: is one of the screening tests that has remarkably decreased
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  Speaker 2: the risk of breast cancer because early detection is key,
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  Speaker 2: rather than having a breast cancer that goes undiagnosed for
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  Speaker 2: many years, at which we have less to do when
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  Speaker 2: it comes to medication. Now, we have had some differences
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  Speaker 2: in when screening starts maybe over the last decade or so.
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  Speaker 2: Before it used to be forty every other year and
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  Speaker 2: then in fifty every year. But now what we have
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  Speaker 2: seen is that we have started to see breast cancer
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  Speaker 2: rates increase among younger women, which is why we do
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  Speaker 2: typically want mammograms to start screening at the age of
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  Speaker 2: forty every year. Now, there has been changes, just like
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  Speaker 2: you've seen in other forms of healthcare, where we have
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  Speaker 2: some hesitation with testing or vaccines or medications when it
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  Speaker 2: comes to our health. Now that really hallmarks a mistrust
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  Speaker 2: in the system or information that's misinformation. But what we
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  Speaker 2: do know from stories categorically is that the earlier you
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  Speaker 2: start with screening exams, the more likely that you are
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  Speaker 2: to decrease your risk of a certain cancer. When we
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  Speaker 2: think of breast cancer, one in nine women will be
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  Speaker 2: impacted in their life. This is an important step to take.
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  Speaker 1: So this is really interesting, doctor Shepherd, because personally, I
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  Speaker 1: will say I did get a mammogram for the first
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  Speaker 1: time in the last six months, and I know that
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  Speaker 1: dense breast tissue is an issue that we're hearing more
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  Speaker 1: about and a lot of times, then a mammogram can't
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  Speaker 1: necessarily tell you as much as you would like, so
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  Speaker 1: a woman would have to get an ultrasound. I went
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  Speaker 1: ahead and push for that. But this study we're talking about,
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  Speaker 1: it also showed significant declines among women who are uninsured
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  Speaker 1: and without consistent access to healthcare. That was one thing
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  Speaker 1: I found because my insurance didn't cover it. So talk
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  Speaker 1: about some of these factors that can prevent women from
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  Speaker 1: these early screaming screening access that they can get.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's one thing about the access, and you're
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  Speaker 2: absolutely correct that when we do screening, then if there
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  Speaker 2: is something that is seen, and particularly dense breasts don't
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  Speaker 2: have the ability to see or localize some of the
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  Speaker 2: lesions that we're looking for, that can increase our suspicion
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  Speaker 2: for breast cancer, which then means more testing, which for
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  Speaker 2: some insurance companies or people who don't have insurance, is
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  Speaker 2: not covered. This is exactly what we see when there's
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  Speaker 2: a gap in healthcare that's necessary to close in order
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  Speaker 2: for us to actually decrease the risk of breast cancer.
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  Speaker 2: So it is actually really understanding that for patients they're like, well,
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  Speaker 2: if this is not going to be covered or it
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  Speaker 2: can't cover it, then it actually decreases my interest in
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  Speaker 2: actually getting the exam. I think that this is really
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  Speaker 2: where the medical community needs to take focus and look
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  Speaker 2: at that gap, and we should be responsible as well
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  Speaker 2: as insurance companies for decreasing that gap.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, just a reminder of how much you have to
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  Speaker 1: advocate for yourself and how challenging it can be. Doctor
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  Speaker 1: Shepherd also want to ask you, dementia affects more than
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  Speaker 1: six million Americans. But now a new study finds that
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  Speaker 1: preparing meals at home may help older adults lower their risk.
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  Speaker 1: So how might that be Planning and preparing a meal
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  Speaker 1: can help protect against dementia. Yeah, you know, I.
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  Speaker 2: Really love this study, Jane. But one of the things
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  Speaker 2: I wanted to point out is that this study was
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  Speaker 2: done in Japan, which typically when you look at their
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  Speaker 2: lifelong expectancy is actually more than what we would say globally.
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  Speaker 2: They really do have a lot of what we call centenarians,
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  Speaker 2: and a lot of that has to do with diet.
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  Speaker 2: So they already kind of have an up there because
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  Speaker 2: of their diet is much more healthy in their lifestyle factors.
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  Speaker 2: But in twenty twenty, the Landset had an actual report
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  Speaker 2: that looked at what decreases dementia risk by about forty percent.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of that had to do with actually just
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  Speaker 2: changing lifestyle factors, and this study actually focused on that
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  Speaker 2: study and took the diet portion of that and looked
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  Speaker 2: at participants in Japan and looking at decreasing that risk
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  Speaker 2: of dementia by actually just cooking at home. And what
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  Speaker 2: they found is because there's less processed foods, there's actually
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  Speaker 2: the ability of doing a skill, doing a skill of
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  Speaker 2: cooking and preparing that really does help with brain health.
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  Speaker 2: And then also what you're intaking, your decrease the intake
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  Speaker 2: of processed foods, inflammatory foods, and this is where we
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  Speaker 2: start to see how the body actually has a connect
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  Speaker 2: with the gut. What goes into the body via food
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  Speaker 2: connects with the brain through the blood brain barrier, which
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  Speaker 2: ultimately helps the decreasing dementia.
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  Speaker 1: Really fascinating stuff. Doctor Jessica Shepherd, thank you so much
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  Speaker 1: for being with us this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Jr. Name