Secret sources of caffeine contributing to painful breasts Q: I have fibrocystic breast disease and my doctor told me that I need to cut back on caffeine. But I don't drink caffeinated beverages, so I'm confused as to why he would recommend this approach to me. Can you explain it further, and offer any additional information that I might be able to use to ease the discomfort of my condition? JVW: There is a clear connection between caffeine and fibrocystic breast disease. While caffeine doesn't cause this condition (if it did, there would be a much higher incidence), it can and does aggravate it. And you might be surprised to learn that you've probably been exposed to caffeine even if you don't drink beverages containing it. Years ago, a group of researchers performed a study to investigate caffeine's effects on fibrocystic breast disease. One of the things they discovered was that even the women in the "decaffeinated" group actually had traces of caffeine in their breast cyst fluid. Since human bodies don't make their own caffeine, those "zero-caffeine" women must have been using some caffeine after all -- perhaps without even realizing it. It's not hard to do, since caffeine appears in some places you might not expect, such as chocolate and some over the counter pain relievers (especially headache medications like Excedrin). Even decaf coffee has trace amounts of caffeine. But if you've also eliminated all of those possibilities and still haven't found relief from your condition, you may want to consider the iodine therapy developed by Dr. John Myers over 30 years ago. This treatment eases pain in as little as 30 minutes after the first application, and after just two or three months of treatment, fibrocystic breast disease often disappears entirely. To read more about Dr. Myers' therapy, refer back to the January 2005 issue of Nutrition & Healing. Subscribers can download it for free by visiting www.wrightnewsletter.com and logging on with the username and password listed on page 8 of your most recent issue. | 
