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Mediterranean diet cuts breast cancer risk in older women, says study
Reduce your chances of breast cancer?By Jane Byrne 19-Oct-2009
Adherence to a Mediterranean diet along with avoidance of Western-type foods may contribute to a reduction in postmenopausal breast cancer risk, claims new French study. According to findings published in this month’s American Journal of Epidemiology, the incidence of cancer of the breast may be lowered in postmenopausal women by a diet comprising mostly fruits, vegetables, fish and olive/sunflower oil. And, says the study, the diet identified as ‘alcohol/Western’ (meat products, fries, appetizers, rice/pasta, potatoes, pulses, pizza/pies, canned fish, eggs, alcoholic beverages, cakes, mayonnaise, and butter/cream) was associated with cancer risk. Objective The researchers maintain that up to now evidence for associations between breast cancer risk and specific foods or nutrients has been limited, except for alcohol. Cancer of the breast incidence varies widely between countries, claims the study, and the researchers add that this suggests the influence of environmental factors: “The Japanese have traditionally been at low risk of breast cancer but the incidence in Japan has recently increased concomitantly with major changes in traditional habits, especially diet. “The increasing incidence of cancer of the breast in Japan can be attributed at least partly to the adoption of a Western diet, which is notably characterized by higher intakes of meat, dairy products, and saturated fat, and decreased consumption of traditional Japanese foods such as seafood products,” continued the scientists. Method The scientists report that research was initiated in 1990 and involved 65,374 women living in France who were born between 1925 and 1950, with participants completing biennial self-administered follow-up questionnaires on health status, medical history, and lifestyle. Dietary data was collected via a self-administered diet history questionnaire assessing consumption of 208 foods and beverages, states the article. The scientists said that they considered potential interactions with known risk factors for cancer of the breast such as age, educational level, geographic area at baseline, body mass index, height, family history of this type of cancer, pregnancy and breastfeeding history and current use of vitamin/mineral supplements. Scores for dietary patterns were obtained by factor analysis, and cancer hazard ratios were estimated by Cox proportional hazards regression for the highest quartile of dietary pattern score versus the lowest. Results The report states that among the women studied, 2,381 developed postmenopausal invasive cancer of the breast during a median follow-up period of 9.7 years. The researchers said that their findings indicate that a Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduced risk of cancer of the breast only if energy intake remains within recommendations and if ‘unhealthy’ foods are not consumed in large quantities. However, they stress that it was difficult to determine which components of the Mediterranean pattern explain the inverse association with the risk of cancer of the breast. The risk associated with the 'alcohol/Western' eating pattern was higher in the case of tumours that were estrogen receptor-positive/progesterone receptor-negative, added the researchers.
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Med-diet-cuts-breast-cancer-risk-in-older-women-says-study
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