MED DIET ‘CAN CUT BREAST CANCER RISK’
Research finds link to prevention
A MEDITERRANEAN diet can cut the risk of a deadly form of breast cancer by 40 per cent, experts discovered.
Scientists found of the 62,000 women they studied over 20 years, those who stuck most closely to a Mediterraneanstyle diet were less likely to develop ER-negative breast cancer.
This form of the disease is often harder to treat than hormone-sensitive cancer and more likely to prove fatal.
Each year, 55,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer – 30 per cent with ER-negative.
About 11,400 women die from breast cancer in the UK every year. A typical Mediterranean diet includes high intakes of plant-based proteins, such as nuts, lentils and beans, whole grains, fish and monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil.
Refined grain foods such as white bread and white rice, red meat and sweets are kept to a minimum.
Professor Piet van den Brandt, from Maastricht University, in the Netherlands, said: “Our research can help to shine a light on how dietary patterns can affect our cancer risk.
“We found a strong link between the Mediterranean diet and reduced oestrogenreceptor negative breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women.
“This type of breast cancer usually has a worse prognosis than other types.”
Alcohol was excluded from the study because of its known links to breast cancer.
Director of research funding at the World Cancer Research Fund Dr Panagiota Mitrou said: “With breast cancer being so common in the UK, prevention is key if we want to see a decrease in the number of women developing the disease.”