In this October, the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a new epidemiological study suggests that physical activity may reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Many women including many breast cancer survivors walked to streets to raise breast cancer awareness this month. Walking occasionally may be better than nothing, but regular physical activity could be more beneficial, according to the study.

The new study published in the Jul-Sept 2009 issue of Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention found women doing a job that required them to stand or move most of time in a day were 34 percent less likely to contract breast cancer than those spending most of their time sitting.

Kruk J from the University of Szczecin in Poland conducted the case-control study of 858 invasive breast cancer cases and 1,085 controls in Poland between 2003 and 2007.

The researcher found also found an inverse association between occupational physical activity and breast cancer risk. Postmenopausal women with physically demanding jobs were found to have a much lower risk than those who performed sedentary occupations, the difference is 43 percent.

"These findings support observations from previous studies that sufficiently high occupational physical activity may reduce breast cancer risk, particularly among postmenopausal women," the author concluded.

Although it is advisable that women should have an awareness of breast cancer, women should not try to focus on detection and treatment without taking any preventative measure to prevent the disease from developing in the first place.

Free mammogram screening is offered everywhere in this month. But this diagnostic tool is not only unreliable, but also can increase risk of breast cancer.

Dr.Samuel S. Epstein, president of Cancer prevention Coalition says on its website www.prevencancer.com "Contrary to popular belief and assurances by the U. S. media and the cancer establishment- the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and American Cancer Society (ACS)- mammography is not a technique for early diagnosis. In fact, a breast cancer has usually been present for about eight years before it can finally be detected."