Nash: Breast cancer awareness movement is having a positive effect on women's health and self-image

Breasts are in the news this month. That's because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It's a pink tidal wave of awareness. And, this initiative is not only raising awareness, it is saving lives. It does so by being, ahem, up front about everything having to do with breasts, and that is why, in October, breasts are everywhere.

Here's my dilemma; I can't participate in Breast Cancer Awareness Month without being, well, aware of breasts. The ubiquitous news coverage makes ignoring them impossible. I'm probably as aware of breasts as the next guy, but just in case I wasn't paying close enough attention, along comes a study by the British retailer Debenhams. The company has 240 stores in 28 countries and their research has revealed that bust sizes in Britain have grown by three sizes in just two years.

They base their conclusion on bra sales. For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the company is encouraging women to "embrace their breasts and celebrate their curves," and is donating money from every bra sold during October to breast cancer organizations.

I fully support the foundation of this effort. But along with celebrating their curves, women must realize those curves can be deadly. The statistics are sobering. In this country, about one in every eight women will develop invasive breast cancer during her lifetime. For women in the United States, breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer except lung cancer.

But it's not all bad news. Breast cancer incidence rates have been dropping by about 2 percent a year, and in 2011 there were more than 2.6 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. Those are numbers of hope.

With the Debenhams study in mind, it's natural to wonder if there is any correlation between breast size and breast cancer. According to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization, research results on a possible link are mixed.

A report on its website says: "Some studies have found larger breast size increases risk, while others have found no link between breast size and risk. More research is needed."

The German newspaper "Bild" has already started on the research, at least the part dealing with breast size. It has created what it calls "Atlas of Cup Sizes" map to answer the question: "Ever wonder which country in the world boasts the women with the biggest boobs?"

They offer no insights into their research methodology, but their results found the cups run over in Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway. The size there was described as "Greater than D-Cup." American women are next with D cup, and women in Africa and Asia were A and B cup.

So, what does this all mean? I have no idea. Except that the breast cancer awareness movement is having a positive and profound effect on women's health and self-image. And it seems like everyone wants to help. Major league sports teams are wearing pink. The Ventura County Star website has a pink banner. Firefighters are wearing pink T-shirts. All of this is raising awareness and awareness leads to detection.

Early detection is getting better, and so are survival rates. Even so, the Komen organization estimates 39,510 women will lose their battle with breast cancer in 2012 and hundreds of thousands of women will contract it.

That's too many. It starts with awareness. Think pink.