Published on ShanghaiDaily.com (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/)
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200812/20081217/article_384764.htm
Fruits and veggies cut breast cancer risk
Created: 2008-12-17
CERTAIN breast cancer survivors who load up on fruits and vegetables, eating far more than current nutrition guidelines, can slash the risk of tumors coming back by nearly a third, according to a study in the United States.
The finding, released on Monday, only held for women who did not have hot flashes after their cancer therapy, the researchers said - a finding that suggests fruits and vegetables act on estrogen.
Their analysis suggests an explanation for why some studies have shown that eating more fruits and vegetables lowers the risk that breast cancer will come back, while others do not.
It may depend on the individual patient, they reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
"Women with early stage breast cancer who have hot flashes have better survival and lower recurrence rates than women who don't," said Ellen Gold of the University of California Davis, who helped lead the study.
Several studies have shown this. And this study showed that women who had hot flashes after treatment for breast cancer had lower estrogen levels than women who did not.
As estrogen drives the most common type of breast cancer, this suggests that eating extra servings of fruits and vegetables - above and beyond the five servings a day recommended by the US government - may lower harmful estrogen levels in cancer survivors, the researchers said.
"It appears that a dietary pattern high in fruits, vegetables and fiber, which has been shown to reduce circulating estrogen levels, may only be important among women with circulating estrogen levels above a certain threshold," said John Pierce of the University of California San Diego.
The researchers took a second look at data from 3,000 breast cancer patients in a study aimed at seeing whether a diet low in fat and high in fruits and vegetables might keep their cancer from coming back. Such a diet has been shown to lower overall risk of ever getting breast cancer in the first place.
The researchers found that only 16 percent of those who doubled up on fruits and vegetables had their tumors come back after seven years, compared to 23 percent of those merely given advice on food guidelines.
The finding, released on Monday, only held for women who did not have hot flashes after their cancer therapy, the researchers said - a finding that suggests fruits and vegetables act on estrogen.
Their analysis suggests an explanation for why some studies have shown that eating more fruits and vegetables lowers the risk that breast cancer will come back, while others do not.
It may depend on the individual patient, they reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
"Women with early stage breast cancer who have hot flashes have better survival and lower recurrence rates than women who don't," said Ellen Gold of the University of California Davis, who helped lead the study.
Several studies have shown this. And this study showed that women who had hot flashes after treatment for breast cancer had lower estrogen levels than women who did not.
As estrogen drives the most common type of breast cancer, this suggests that eating extra servings of fruits and vegetables - above and beyond the five servings a day recommended by the US government - may lower harmful estrogen levels in cancer survivors, the researchers said.
"It appears that a dietary pattern high in fruits, vegetables and fiber, which has been shown to reduce circulating estrogen levels, may only be important among women with circulating estrogen levels above a certain threshold," said John Pierce of the University of California San Diego.
The researchers took a second look at data from 3,000 breast cancer patients in a study aimed at seeing whether a diet low in fat and high in fruits and vegetables might keep their cancer from coming back. Such a diet has been shown to lower overall risk of ever getting breast cancer in the first place.
The researchers found that only 16 percent of those who doubled up on fruits and vegetables had their tumors come back after seven years, compared to 23 percent of those merely given advice on food guidelines.
Agencies
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