Women want annual mammograms; new risks emerge for chemo patients taking supplements

At Ohio State University's Comprehensive Cancer Center in Cleveland, researchers recently asked women what they thought about how often they should get mammograms. The answer diverged sharply from what federal health officials currently recommend. More than half of the women surveyed—51 percent—said they believed annual screening made more sense than the every-other-year schedule the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force endorses. Even more striking, more than four in ten said screening should begin as early as age 35. The breast imaging specialists at OSU agree with the women, not the federal guidelines. They strongly recommend annual mammograms starting at age 40 for all women at average risk, regardless of family history.

The survey revealed something else worth noting: women don't think of breast cancer screening as a single test. Sixty-five percent said self-exams should be part of the routine. Sixty-four percent mentioned blood tests or cancer screening panels. Fifty-four percent pointed to ultrasound, and 53 percent said clinical breast exams should be standard. The specialists acknowledge that supplemental screening with ultrasound or MRI can make sense, particularly for women with dense breast tissue or those at elevated risk. But they're clear about the hierarchy: mammography remains the foundation. MRI, while sensitive at detecting cancer, produces more false positives than mammography, making it a useful addition rather than a replacement for most women.

One recommendation from breast imaging specialists gets far less attention than it deserves: all women should have a breast cancer risk assessment by age 25. It's straightforward—usually just a conversation or brief survey with a provider—and it produces a lifetime risk percentage that determines when and how often screening should happen. For women with a mother, sister, or daughter who had breast cancer, the math is simple and important. The guideline is to start mammograms ten years before the age at which that relative was diagnosed. If a mother received her diagnosis at 42, her daughter should begin screening at 32. One in four women ages 18 to 29 say they would rather wait for symptoms—lumps, pain, changes—before seeking any screening at all. Breast imaging specialists warn that this approach risks catching cancer at later stages, when treatment becomes significantly harder.

While women are thinking about how to screen for cancer, those already undergoing chemotherapy need to think carefully about what they're taking. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have found that popular Vitamin B3 supplements—including NMN, NR, and nicotinamide, often marketed as anti-aging and energy-boosting products—may actually help cancer cells survive chemotherapy. These supplements work by increasing NAD+, a molecule every cell needs to function. In healthy people, that boost can be beneficial. But cancer cells exploit that same fuel source to repair DNA damage caused by chemotherapy and to avoid the cell death that treatment is designed to trigger. The research focused on pancreatic cancer, but the implications are broader. Researchers are calling for all cancer patients on chemotherapy to check with their oncologist before taking any supplements, and they're pushing for routine supplement screening to become standard across all cancer care.

There's one more health story worth knowing about, and it's hiding in medicine cabinets across the country. Ibuprofen is ubiquitous, but Cleveland Clinic physicians say most people don't understand its limits. Adults should take no more than one or two regular-strength tablets every four to six hours, with a maximum of 1,200 milligrams in a single day. It should never be used for more than ten consecutive days for pain, or three days for a fever. Long-term use is linked to more than 100,000 hospitalizations annually, with risks including stomach bleeding, kidney damage, and heart problems. When someone reaches for ibuprofen every day, that's a signal that something larger may need medical attention. The gap between how people use it and how it's meant to be used is a gap that matters.