Fruits And Veggies May Not Cut Breast Cancer Risk

[Guest guest]

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While consuming a diet

including fruits and vegetables provides a host of

health benefits, it does not appear to decrease a

woman's risk of breast cancer, according to a new

report.

 

``Although fruits and vegetables may offer protection

against other types of cancer and heart disease, other

types of interventions are needed to reduce the risk

of breast cancer,'' according to Dr. Stephanie A.

Smith-Warner of the Harvard School of Public Health in

Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues.

 

In their study, published in the February 14th issue

of The Journal of the American Medical Association

(news - web sites), the researchers looked at eight

previously published studies including more than

350,000 women. Overall, about 7,400 of the women

developed breast cancer.

 

The investigators found that women who consumed the

highest amounts of fruits and vegetables were only 3%

to 9% less likely to develop breast cancer than women

who ate the fewest fruits and vegetables, but these

results were not statistically meaningful.

 

The researchers separately analyzed 17 different types

of fruits and vegetables and could find none that

helped protect against breast cancer.

 

``These results suggest that fruit and vegetable

consumption during adulthood is not significantly

associated with breast cancer risk,'' Smith-Warner and

colleagues conclude.

 

However, the report is not the final word on breast

cancer and diet, according to an editorial by Dr.

Martha L. Slattery of the University of Utah in Salt

Lake City. She points out that the researchers were

missing some data on specific food consumption in the

studies.

 

Slattery notes that there are many health benefits to

consuming a diet rich in such foods, and women are

better off continuing with the National Cancer

Institute (news - web sites)'s recommendation to

consume five servings of fruits and vegetables each

day.

 

``The benefits to health from eating at least five

servings of fruits and vegetables per day likely

include a reduction in risk for heart disease, other

cancers (if not breast cancer), diabetes and

obesity,'' Slattery concludes.

 

SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical

Association 2001;285:769-776,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get personalized email addresses from Mail - only $35

a year! http://personal.mail./