Behind the Bluff
Uncover best practices to participate in life on your terms. Every week, hosts Jeff Ford and Kendra Till guide listeners with short conversations on trending wellness topics and share interviews with passionate wellness professionals, our private club leaders, and additional subject matter experts offering valuable tips. Each episode conclusion includes Healthy Momentum, five minutes of inspiration to help you reflect and live differently. Subscribe now and discover the keys to living your greatest active lifestyle.
Behind the Bluff
Risk, Ribbons, and Real Prevention | Dr. Tad Beeker
We unpack the real drivers of breast cancer risk with Dr. Tad Beaker, clarify who needs genetic testing, and make the case for yearly mammograms starting at 40. We close with a practical plan for early detection, lifestyle changes, and confident self-advocacy.
• lifetime risk stats and why awareness must be action
• genetics versus lifestyle clarified with percentages
• alcohol, BMI, smoking, and activity as modifiable risks
• screening guidelines compared and a yearly mammogram case
• early detection benefits and survival impact
• stages 1–4 explained at a high level
• who should consider genetic testing and why counseling matters
• symptoms often missed and when to escalate
• handling screening anxiety with structure and support
• Gail Model thresholds and chemoprevention options
• wellness as a personal sweet spot of body and mind
On October 21st, 11 a.m. on the Village Green, we will be hosting a class with pink mats. And Tad will be out there speaking more on the prevention, and we're really just going to be bringing the community together to raise awareness for the information that we just shared.
Are you ready to live an active lifestyle? Welcome to Behind the Bluff, where we believe every moment of your life is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms. Guess what? October is breast cancer awareness month. And today we wanted to shine a light on the topic that impacts so many families in our community. My guest is Dr. Tad Beaker, a trusted physician with over 30 years experience who is an advocate for proactive health. Together, we're going to talk about prevention, early detection, and how the choices we make every day can lower the risk and lead to stronger, healthier lives. Whether you're tuning in more for yourself or to support someone you love, this episode is all about awareness and action when it comes to breast cancer. Tad, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, Jeff. It's good to be here. Didn't think I'd get back to work so soon after retirement.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we uh we got you booked pretty quickly after you pulled the plug on your uh 30 years.
SPEAKER_01:You know, it was a great career, uh, specializing in this case, uh, all medical oncology. So I'm uh very versed uh when it comes to breast cancer.
SPEAKER_00:It seems like it was fate because our trainer Lisa Banks, who's on our team here, trains a lot of our members, teaches classes. She came up with this brilliant idea to host a class on the village green so that we could bring awareness to such an important topic.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, the average risk uh for women in the United States is one in eight. Uh over uh 350,000 people will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year alone. So it's a it's a huge portion of the population.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's that's significant when you relate it to those numbers. Let's go ahead and dive in. October is breast cancer awareness month, but you as a doctor being in oncology for the amount of time you were, it was a year-round mission for you. What does awareness mean beyond the pink ribbons that we see?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I think of uh risk factors in this case for breast cancer and how it applies to the individual.
SPEAKER_00:Right on. Application to the individual is extremely important. One of the common questions out there is the philosophy between genetics versus lifestyle. So, Ted, how much of breast cancer risk comes down to genetics versus lifestyle?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, this is really complicated, but we'll try to streamline it as best as possible. Uh, the two are intertwined, but basically, if you're talking about a germline mutation, hereditary breast cancer, that only comprises 10 to 15 percent of all breast cancers. So 85% of breast cancers are de novo or sporadic.
SPEAKER_00:So they're lifestyle related, 85%.
SPEAKER_01:Certainly there's a strong impact.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. Now, when you say a germ, the phrasing, could you elaborate on that? A germ change from a DNA perspective? This would be an inherited mutation. Okay. Okay. What are the biggest modifiable lifestyle factors that can reduce a woman's risk of developing breast cancer?
SPEAKER_01:Well, certainly I think number one is screening, you know, participating in a screening program, undergoing uh self-examination, and having mammography. Uh, then in other changes that one can make uh would be smoking. Smoking plays a role in many cancers, lung cancer, colon cancer, but also uh breast cancer. Alcohol can certainly be a risk factor for breast cancer. If you look at people that drink less than one drink per week, their lifetime risk of breast cancer is around 11%. Wow. If you minimal drink one drink per day, that risk goes up to 13%. Okay. If you consume two drinks or more a day, that lifetime risk goes to 15.3%.
SPEAKER_00:So clearly there's a linear impact to alcohol consumption in lifestyle risk of breast cancer. Ted, what other modifiable risk factors can we be aware of?
SPEAKER_01:Decreasing your BMI, uh, not uh becoming obese. Obesity leads to increased fats, which increases inflammation, which also increases hormones like estrogen, which will all increase your risk factor for breast cancer. Staying active, having an active lifestyle, doing exercise will also uh lower your risk. Uh the longitudinal longitudinal studies really point this out. Uh, really becomes even uh a much greater uh risk factor for people already diagnosed with breast cancer that they have longer overall survival uh if they uh start to modify their lifestyle. Yes. So it becomes really important. Uh and the healthier you are, the better you can tolerate treatment such as surgery or chemotherapy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. That's a great perspective versus just focusing solely on prevention. Anytime we we have a condition, changing lifestyle and improving how we live is going to make a positive impact. So prevention and lifestyle are huge, but early detection, as I'm aware, can make all the difference. Let's let's shift to screening. You mentioned that right from the get-go of being very, very important. How and when should people start to get screened? And what should they know about mammograms versus genetic testing?
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Uh, everybody should start screening at least at the age of 40 for average risk. When we're talking about mammography, there are a couple of um institutions that you can follow or recommendations, ones by the uh U.S. Preventative Task Force. Their recommendations are for screening starting at 40 and going to 74, and they recommend only uh biannual, every two-year mammography. After the age of 74, they claim there's not enough data to support regular screening. The American Cancer Society has different recommendations. They recommend starting at 40, 40 to 44 is optional, 44 to 55 is yearly, 55 to 74 is biannual. After 74, they uh talk about if you're otherwise healthy and have an estimated 10-year or greater survival, uh, then you should continue with screening. For me personally, as a practicing medical oncologist, has done this for so long and is specialized in breast cancer. I would recommend 40 and doing it yearly. I can't tell you how often I see women who have followed the rules, the recommendations by their physicians and had it biannual, only to come in uh with their latest uh mamogram uh showing an abnormality. And we have to believe that uh their overall outcome would be so much better if they were diagnosed earlier, because it is clear the earlier you're diagnosed, the better your outcome is. In fact, you know, when you look in the 1980s, one in three eligible women only got screened for breast cancer.
SPEAKER_00:In the 1980s, just one in three eligible in those in the age groups.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Now for eligible women, we're up to two in three. And over that period of time, we've lowered the mortality for breast cancer by 40%. And we feel the majority of that is due to screening. Yes, some to new treatments, but a lot of this is due to the screening.
SPEAKER_00:Well, that's outstanding news to know that women out there are screening more often than they were, and that nugget of every year, from what you've seen, makes all the impact. How important is early detection?
SPEAKER_01:I think it's very important uh because it uh causes less morbidity, your options are greater, and clearly your survival is greater for having uh minimal invasive breast cancer. Survival risks are well over 90%.
SPEAKER_00:Now, Tad, I'd love to learn a little bit more before we go into additional call to actions. What are the different stages of breast cancer from a high-level breakdown?
SPEAKER_01:Well, there are four stages. They never change, one, two, three, and four, and they have to do with uh how you're diagnosed with the advancement, the size, whether there are lymph nodes involved, whether it's gone to different organs.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so we've spoken about the frequency of mammograms. Tell us more about genetic testing.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, this is the tricky one when it comes to screening. Most insurance companies won't uh pay for genetic testing unless you have a family member that has been diagnosed with a deleterious uh gene mutation. Where we find this come into play the greatest amount are in women newly diagnosed with breast cancer, and then they have additional risk factors. They have multiple family members uh with breast cancer. Uh, they have a history of ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer. There's history of uh male breast cancer in the family. They are of Ashkenazi, Jewish ancestry. Uh, all those would be increased risk factors and would warrant genetic testing. And by the way, there are multiple genes associated with breast cancer. The most common are BRCA1 and BRCA2, but there are multiple ones, TP53, PALB2, CEC2, ATM.
SPEAKER_00:Now that's a lot of different genes. Are the mutations different just depending on the case?
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Uh this gets more complicated, but if you take BRCA, which is the most common uh mutation for hereditary breast cancer, there are over 80 uh mutations found in the genes. However, uh probably as of date, around 15 are deleterious or lead to breast cancer that we know of.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:That must make it challenging sometimes in treating it. So I believe one, if you're going to uh get tested for uh having a genetic mutation, you have to get uh genetic counseling. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:With a listener out there who doesn't have a family history, do you recommend taking the steps for genetic testing? No. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:You know, the only thing uh would be a family history, to take a strong family history and and to see how many uh people in their family have had uh cancer.
SPEAKER_00:What are some early signs women often overlook?
SPEAKER_01:So I think everybody knows their body better personally than anybody else. And they oftentimes know when there's a change. And so if you uh feel that there's a change in your breasts, a new bump, a new lump, that needs to be evaluated. If there's nipple retraction, if there's skin discoloration, uh, all those need to be evaluated.
SPEAKER_00:So any change that wasn't there before, even at the smallest nature, it makes sense to go in and get it checked out. Definitely. Yeah. Now I I lead a lot of fitness screenings here for new members getting into activity. And I can at times see that the members a bit anxious. And I think this is the same case for screenings for breast cancer. How do you recommend they approach a screening mentally?
SPEAKER_01:This is really hard. And I don't deal with it as much in the screening uh scenario as much as people that have already been diagnosed with breast cancer or some type of cancer and are coming back to me and they're very anxious about getting reevaluated or having their uh scans performed. Uh, but I believe knowledge is power, and we've clearly shown that early detection makes a huge difference in outcomes. So I think we have to take that uh knowledge and empower ourselves and be our own advocates.
SPEAKER_00:To go a little deeper, it sounds like you have experienced sharing the results with patients. How do you go about that in a way that empowers them to move forward?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think the first part is to be honest. You know, you can't get around the elephant in the room. And I usually attack it directly. And we talk about uh the cancer if we really know how advanced it is or the stage it's in, uh, discuss that and go through that, maybe even discuss some of the treatments. But then I always leave it that they can overcome this. You know, we can improve the situation. In those limited cases that present with metastatic disease, which is less than 10%, try to be very uh upfront and honest and tell them I can do a lot in terms of prolonging your survival. I may not be able to prevent your overall demise, but that's not in my control. My control or job is to give you the opportunity for longer survival and much better quality of life.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. That's incredible to hear the approach and honestly, not something we've talked spoken in depth about on this podcast because we're typically talking about things from a lifestyle perspective. And having to deliver that news, I can imagine it it can weigh on the person who brings it to the individual. How did you handle that mentally as a doctor, someone to make positive change in every single person that you treat?
SPEAKER_01:For me, uh, I worked my whole career in separating uh my medical career from my family life. Uh, I never uh brought it home because it has this cloud uh that can overcome everything. But it would get difficult at times. I could go to church and you know, you're having your own moment of reflection, and people, family members want to come and talk to you about uh their own situation or about family members. And you certainly want to be open, but you find that you can't always get away from it. Uh so you really have to find other ways of finding your own inner peace. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:This has been such informative information, Tad. I appreciate the specifics so that those tuning in today can can move forward and do all they can from a prevention standpoint and uh uh a change in their lifestyle. Now, before we wrap up, with any type of condition out there, there's a lot of myths. When it comes to breast cancer prevention, what do you wish every woman understood?
SPEAKER_01:There are a lot of myths out there, but uh, I would say one, there is no one blood test to tell you that you have cancer or breast cancer in this situation, and that even mammography is not perfect. You know, mammograms can miss up to 15% of cancers. So you have to stay vigilant, you have to stay on top of things, and you have to advocate for yourself. If you don't feel that something's right, you feel something's in the breast, and the mammogram doesn't necessarily show it. I think you have to have that discussion with your physician. Do they need to push and follow up uh with that more closely with an ultrasound? Is there truly a need for a biopsy? Is there really a need for an MRI?
SPEAKER_00:So you would encourage the patient, if they feel something is off, to advocate for that next step to go a bit further.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, I think in terms of screening, it's not appropriate uh for everybody, but if you feel that there is an abnormality and it can't be detected, I think it's worth following up.
SPEAKER_00:That's great advice, Dr. Beaker. In so many situations in life, it's so important to listen to our bodies. If a listener wanted to take one simple, meaningful step today toward prevention, what would it be?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think the obvious is getting a mammogram, but also undergoing a breast risk assessment or gale model. And they often do this at the time that you get your mammogram, but you can go online and do it. It looks at your age, your race, ethnicity, uh number of previous breast biopsies, how many family members have been diagnosed with breast cancer, when you started menarchy, when menopause set in. And by putting all this information in, it'll calculate a five-year risk and a 20-year risk. If it's at five years greater than 1.7 or 20 years greater than 20%, you're considered high risk. And that can uh lead to the opening of other things for additional screening. And it can also lead to discussions for consideration of preventative treatment uh with the use of uh medications like tamoxifen and reloxifene.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. It seems like taking that step of filling out the Gale model and then going in for your mammogram might be the best one-two punch.
SPEAKER_01:I think it would be great. Again, we said knowledge is power, and if you have that, that starts the discussion.
SPEAKER_00:Right on. Couldn't agree more. Tad, final question. What does wellness mean to you?
SPEAKER_01:Finding the combination of physical and mental activity to allow you to be in your own personal or individual sweet spot. That may be your Zen, your nirvana, your enlightenment. Thanks so much, Dr. Beaker. Appreciate you being here. Oh, great, Jeff. Good to be here. Happy to uh provide some information that might help others.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And for those who may have forgotten the event that we mentioned at the beginning of the episode, on October 21st, 11 a.m. on the Village Green, we will be hosting a class with pink mats. And Tad will be out there speaking more on the prevention, and we're really just going to be bringing the community together to raise awareness for the information that we just shared. Sounds great. Be a good time. We appreciate you coming out there for us. Listeners, please stick around for a few more minutes. I know this conversation has hopefully inspired many of you to take that next step, whether it is scheduling a screening, improving their improving your habits, or just paying more attention to your body. I'm gonna share a quick dose of healthy momentum to help you carry this message into the rest of your week. Even when you do your best to live a healthy lifestyle, sometimes it comes down to factors outside your control. Just plain bad luck. The message that really stuck with me today is this. Be proactive. Being proactive shows up in every part of life. In work, it's the leader who checks in with their team before issues arise. In your lifestyle, it's the person who plans workouts and meal preps to stay consistent instead of waiting to be out of shape and unhealthy. And in relationships, it's choosing to communicate early and show appreciation often and in the ways that those closest to us want. And the ability to address small issues before they become big ones. Proactive people don't wait for problems. They build momentum before they need it. At the end of the day, every single one of us is going to face unexpected news. None of us are immune to life's curveballs. But in those moments, isn't it better to already be a little ahead of it? That's why I think so much about being prepared in my health, in my relationships, and in my work. Because strength in one area always supports the others. And for anyone out there who's been impacted by breast cancer, whether you faced it yourself or walked beside someone who has, I just want to say you are sane, you are strong, and your story matters. Let's all keep taking proactive steps this week, not out of fear, but out of love. Love for our health, for each other, for the life that we get to live. That brings us to the end of this week's episode. We want to thank you for listening to Behind the Bluff, and until next week, remember to actively participate in life on your terms.
