According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women in the United States will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. The chance of dying from breast cancer is 1 in 33. Every year, nearly 180,000 additional women are diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 die. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer.

The statistics are startling and many women list breast cancer as a major health fear. New treatments continue to emerge and research is ongoing to find better ways to detect and treat the disease. But most women would rather prevent the disease altogether - and they soon may have an effective new way to do that.

There are factors that put some women at higher risk for breast cancer than others. Women age 60 years and older are at higher risk than younger women. Women who have a family history of the disease also have an increased risk of getting it. For women who are at high risk, there are steps they can take to reduce their risk. These include exercise, a healthy diet and limiting alcohol consumption, among other things.

One major new option is to take a prescription medication to lower the risk. There are currently two drugs on the market for women at high risk. They are tamoxifen and raloxifene (Evista). Both have shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women at increased risk for the disease by about 50-percent. However, they do have side effects, including hot flashes, blood clots and even other types of cancer. Dr. Andrea Eisen, from the Odette Cancer Center with the Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto, says tamoxifen slightly raises the risk of cancer of the uterus in some women.

"The risk of cancer of the uterus is less than 1 percent, but still many women are reluctant to take a drug that can cause cancer as a way of preventing cancer," Eisen said. "[Tamoxifen] has probably saved more lives from breast cancer than any other medication we have."

Researchers are now studying another drug to reduce the risk of breast cancer that could be a more appealing option for women. The drug, exemestane (Aromasin), works by lowering the amount of estrogen in the body. The drug can actually lower estrogen levels by more than 95-percent. Tamoxifen and raloxifene both work to block estrogen receptors in the body -- but they don't actually lower the levels of estrogen as exemestane does.

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The side effects of exemestane are different and seemingly fewer than the side effects of tamoxifen. A 2006 study shows the risk of endometrial cancer was lower for women taking exemestane than in those taking tamoxifen, as was the risk of blood clotting disorders, gynecological problems and muscle cramps. However, women taking exemestane did report more diarrhea, joint pains and had a higher risk of osteoporosis and fractures than those on tamoxifen.

In a study on women who already had breast cancer in one breast, results show taking exemestane reduced their risk of cancer in the other breast by 44-percent. A large study on the effects of exemestane to prevent breast cancer in high risk women is ongoing. Women age 60 or older are eligible for the study as are postmenopausal women at high-risk for the disease. The study is currently recruiting patients at several sites across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. For information on how to enroll, log onto their website.