Fruit and vegetable intake associated with lower risk of ER- breast cancer

By Vera Viner

A new study shows that mothers have been right all along when telling their children to eat plenty of vegetables. Research published in the January 24th edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute illustrated that fruit and vegetable intake is linked to a lower risk of estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer.

However, it is important to note that the study did not find an overall connection between all types of breast cancer and that of fruit and vegetable consumption. It seems that this disease is far too complex and too many factors play a role to have a healthy diet put a significant dent in all varieties of breast cancer.

ER- breast cancers have lower survival rates that ER+ cancers and account for at least 15 percent of all such tumors so this new finding could be important for women attempting to avoid disease and lead a healthy life.

A large pool of women had to be analyzed to determine this discovery. Data from 20 cohort studies, with nearly 1 million women followed for 11 to 20 years, were measured and included in the overall analysis.

High intake of fruits and vegetables was compared to low intake and then measured against the number of women who had developed breast cancer. The lower risk of ER- breast cancers was related to the higher intake of fruits and vegetables, according to the research.

“These findings support the value of examining etiologic factors in relation to breast cancer characterized by hormone receptor status in large pooled analyses because modest associations with less common breast cancer subtypes may have been missed in smaller studies,” the researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health wrote in their final report.

It is also possible that additional health behaviors may affect whether a woman contracts this disease or not, according to the Huffington Post. Nonetheless, it is a good idea to include a variety of healthy foods in one’s diet. Next time you are cooking, make sure to include broccoli, garlic, nuts, berries and tomatoes! And for a delicious drink, you can never go wrong with green tea.