There is overwhelming evidence that modifiable lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise affect your risk of developing some of the most common cancers: lung, colorectal, prostate, and breast cancer. Therefore, experts estimate that 50% of cancer may be preventable.

A new Chinese study that appears in the current issue of the journal of Nutrition & Cancer may help women avoid breast cancer by modifying food choices.

The case-controlled study compared the dietary habits of 3,443 women with breast cancer to those of 3,474 women without breast cancer via a food intake questionnaire. The results were similar to previous studies in that the new study found that increased vegetable intake decreased breast cancer risk.

Specifically, they found:

• Frequent vegetable intake was associated with a 20 percent overall decrease in breast cancer risk.
• Increased intake of “allium” vegetables, including onions, garlic, chives, leeks and scallions, appeared to be especially protective against breast cancer.
• Fruit intake, overall, did not appear to reduce breast cancer risk, but certain individual types of fruit appeared to reduce breast cancer risk, including citrus fruits and “rosaceae” fruits (apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, raspberries and strawberries).
• Both meat and fish appeared to increase breast cancer risk.

While this type of questionnaire-based study provides a weaker level of clinical evidence than prospective, randomized, controlled studies, the findings are largely consistent with similar previous studies, with the exception of the favorable association between specific types of fruit and breast cancer risk.

Women who modify their diet in accordance with this study will reap other benefits as most of the foods that appear to decrease breast cancer risk also reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, and other serious illnesses.

Sources:

PubMed

Doctor Wascher

More and more research is finding that exercise and other lifestyle factors can reduce your risk of cancer. Among women, new research found that exercise can reduce your risk of breast cancer by up to 30%. However, weight gain, even in the presence of exercise increased the risk of breast cancer.

We don’t know why exercise is linked with a reduced risk, but it is thought that a reduction in body fat results in less exposure to circulating hormones, growth factors and pro-inflammatory markers, all of which are associated with breast cancer risk, said study authors.

Exercise also improves other mechanisms that may affect cancer risk including enhanced immune response, antioxidant capacity and DNA repair.

Study Details

In the study, any amount of exercise reduced the risk of breast cancer, but women that exercised from 10-19 hours a week had the greatest risk reduction--about 30%.

Furthermore, age didn’t matter, women who exercised before or after menopause had a reduced risk of breast cancer. This is particularly encouraging as breast cancer is more common in post-menopausal women.

The risk reduction was greatest for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, the most common form of breast cancer.

With all the good news about exercise, there was one caveat in the findings. Even among active women, gaining a significant amount of weight, particularly after menopause, increased the risk of breast cancer, negating the beneficial effect of exercise.

Source:

Health Finder