Relevance: Medium-High

• This article is directed toward all women and in particular women at risk for breast cancer.  
• While the author points out many good studies, the assertion that lifestyle risks can be altered to lower your breast cancer risk is made without the context of factors that increase breast cancer risk and are not alterable (e.g. mutation status, age, menopausal status).
• The work mentioned in some cases supports the idea that some changes to lifestyle can have modest effects on breast cancer risk. However for many of these factors, multiple studies are conflicting or show only small impact and are complicated by many factors which limit the ability to interpret the results

Quality of Writing: Medium-High

• The title of the article, “You Can Take Steps to Lower Your Breast Cancer Risk”, implies that a woman can lower her breast cancer risk by changing her lifestyle.  This is somewhat misleading because many might assume a direct cause and effect relationship between changes and reducing risk.  However, the author does not mention that there are many women who follow these steps and are still diagnosed.  
• The author does not mention risk factors that are beyond one’s control including being a woman, age, and family history or increased risk due to inheriting a BRCA or other cancer mutation.  Importantly, she does not discuss how increased risk due to other factors risk is impacted by the lifestyle changes she lists in the article.
• The author includes scientific research as well as an expert’s opinion that support these steps to reduce breast cancer risk.
• The article was easy to read and gives examples of specific actions (types of food to eat, how much exercise per day/week) individuals can take to get the most benefit.
• The author assumes BMI is reliable indicator for an individual’s healthy weight and fitness when it has been shown not to be the best indicator of fitness.