Fighting Breast Cancer with Fruits and Vegetables
About one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of their lifetime. Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer and, as of 2018, about 266,120 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. The leading causes of breast cancer are environmental factors such as climate, soil, water, diet, chemical environment and local landforms. Currently, 70% of breast cancer cases have no known risk factors and are associated with environmental factors. If scientists can identify the ways these different environmental factors can influence breast cancer risk, individuals can take preventative steps toward lowering their risk of developing breast cancer.
In recent years, diet, which is commonly known to influence a vast range of health conditions, has become one of the newest focuses in connection to breast cancer risk. As of 2017, only 1 in every 10 Americans met the daily fruit and vegetable recommendations. The simultaneous low intake of these food groups and the rise in breast cancer cases has recently raised the question as to whether there is a significant correlation between the two.
Research on this potential correlation took place over the course of 22 years, from 1991-2013, in which 90,476 premenopausal women between the ages 27 and 44 took part in diet based surveys in 1991. Of those women 44,223 willingly completed a survey about their diet in adolescence in 1998. All 90,476 of the women were followed up with in 2013 for intensive breast cancer diagnosis to determine if there was any association between diet in adolescence and breast cancer risk.
Researchers found there were 3,235 cases of invasive breast cancer from 1998-2013. Of those cases, 1,347 cases were among the women who completed the survey in 1998 about their diet in adolescence. It was found that women who had a higher intake of fruits and vegetables that were rich in alpha-carotene (orange-, yellow-, and green-fruits and vegetables), a chemical that helps the body create Vitamin A, had a lower risk of premenopausal breast cancer (breast cancer diagnosed before a woman enters menopause).
In recent years, diet, which is commonly known to influence a vast range of health conditions, has become one of the newest focuses in connection to breast cancer risk. As of 2017, only 1 in every 10 Americans met the daily fruit and vegetable recommendations. The simultaneous low intake of these food groups and the rise in breast cancer cases has recently raised the question as to whether there is a significant correlation between the two.
Research on this potential correlation took place over the course of 22 years, from 1991-2013, in which 90,476 premenopausal women between the ages 27 and 44 took part in diet based surveys in 1991. Of those women 44,223 willingly completed a survey about their diet in adolescence in 1998. All 90,476 of the women were followed up with in 2013 for intensive breast cancer diagnosis to determine if there was any association between diet in adolescence and breast cancer risk.
Researchers found there were 3,235 cases of invasive breast cancer from 1998-2013. Of those cases, 1,347 cases were among the women who completed the survey in 1998 about their diet in adolescence. It was found that women who had a higher intake of fruits and vegetables that were rich in alpha-carotene (orange-, yellow-, and green-fruits and vegetables), a chemical that helps the body create Vitamin A, had a lower risk of premenopausal breast cancer (breast cancer diagnosed before a woman enters menopause).
Image Source: Madison Inouye
Researchers also discovered that adolescent fruit intake has a higher association with estrogen and progesterone receptor negative breast cancers than receptor positive breast cancers. Estrogen and progesterone receptor negative breast cancers are types of breast cancer that do not grow in response to the hormones estrogen and progesterone respectfully. Furthermore, greater consumption of specific fruits (apples, bananas, and grapes) in adolescence were associated with reduced breast cancer risk. In addition, vegetables and oranges in early adulthood was significantly associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer. However, it was found that the intake of fruit juices in adolescence did not have an association with breast cancer risk. It’s unclear in the present why fruit juices do not have an association with breast cancer and why some specific fruits (apples and grapes) are associated with a reduced risk for breast cancer; these ambiguities can be further researched to potentially answer that.
This research provides the public with a better understanding of how fruit and vegetable intake for women in adolescence and early adulthood can benefit their health in the future. However, higher fruit and vegetable intake during adolescence was found to be associated with a lower likelihood to smoke, eat animal fat, or consume alcohol and a higher likelihood of fiber intake; these are lifestyle choices that may also contribute to a lower likelihood of breast cancer and could have had an effect on the researcher’s results. The fruits and vegetables that failed to show an association with lowering breast cancer risks can be further studied for possible connection to other types of cancer risks. The inclusion of fruits and vegetables (such as apples, carrots, grapes, pumpkin, and butternut squash) in the diet of adolescents and young adult women can serve as a start for lowering the risk of breast cancer development.
This research provides the public with a better understanding of how fruit and vegetable intake for women in adolescence and early adulthood can benefit their health in the future. However, higher fruit and vegetable intake during adolescence was found to be associated with a lower likelihood to smoke, eat animal fat, or consume alcohol and a higher likelihood of fiber intake; these are lifestyle choices that may also contribute to a lower likelihood of breast cancer and could have had an effect on the researcher’s results. The fruits and vegetables that failed to show an association with lowering breast cancer risks can be further studied for possible connection to other types of cancer risks. The inclusion of fruits and vegetables (such as apples, carrots, grapes, pumpkin, and butternut squash) in the diet of adolescents and young adult women can serve as a start for lowering the risk of breast cancer development.
Featured Image Source: qimono
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