Starting Sept. 10, all women undergoing mammography for breast cancer will be informed on the density of their breasts, according to a new update by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

On Mar. 9, 2023, the FDA issued an update requiring all mammography facilities to comply. The requirement takes effect on Tuesday.

Dense breast tissue can make cancer more difficult to detect on a mammogram, the FDA wrote in its press release. Like cancer tumors, fibroglandular tissue appears white on mammograms. According to the release, approximately half of women over 40 in the United States have dense breast tissue. Dense breasts are also a risk factor for breast cancer development.

Conversely, breasts not considered dense have more fat. Fat appears black on mammograms, which makes the white cancer tumors more identifiable.

Women would not be able to know if their breasts are dense unless they are tested using a mammogram, professor Karla Kerlikowske, who studies breast imaging and breast cancer epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco told The Epoch Times.

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