Chemical in bread ‘can inhibit breast cancer treatment’

♦ A chemical found in bread and a range of other common foods can thwart treatment for breast cancer, scientists have warned.

New research suggested the benefits of palbociclib, the “breakthrough” drug, which is given to women with oestrogen receptorpositive breast cancer, were effectively reversed by xenoestrogens, compounds present in products made from wheat, maize, barley and other staples. Scientists said women taking the drug should consider altering their diet. They also suggested that, as well as hindering the benefit of the palbociclib, xenoestrogens may even accelerate the growth of oestrogenfuelled cancers themselves.

The medication was approved for use on the NHS in November for women with oestrogen-positive breast cancer – 70 per cent of cases – in whom the disease was advanced and unlikely to be cured. The Scripps Research Institute in California showed that even limited exposure to xenoestrogens largely reversed the impact of the medication when used in combination with letrozole, another drug. “Even a low, background-level exposure to these xenoestrogens was enough to impact the effect of the therapy,” said Dr Benedikt Warth, lead author of the study, published in the journal Cell Chemical Biolog y.