Eating vegetables, seafood may cut breast cancer risk - study

The National Breast Cancer Awareness Month or the pink month, which is October, does not seem over yet. We continue to publish reports on new research to help readers to understand how a healthy diet or lifestyle may modify the risk of breast cancer.

A new study published in the Nov 2010 issue of Nutrition and Cancer suggests eating lots of vegetables and seafood may reduce risk of breast cancer in women.

The study led by Cho Y.A. and colleagues of the National Cancer Center in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea found an inverse association between a vegetable-seafood pattern and breast cancer risk.

The researchers analyzed dietary data from 357 Korean women with breast cancer and 357 age-matched controls to determine the association between dietary patterns and breast cancer risk and the effect of menopause and hormone receptor statuses on the association.

They identified two dietary patterns, vegetable-seafood and meat-starch pattern after analysis of 39 food groups surveyed via a food frequency questionnaire.

Using multivariate logistic regression, Cho et al. found those who ate highest amounts of vegetables and seafood were 86 percent less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, compared with those with the lowest intake.

However, there was no association between meat-starch pattern and breast cancer risk.

The researchers also found the correlation between dietary patterns and beast cancer risk was not affected by the menopausal status and combined hormone receptor status.

They concluded that a diet high in vegetables and seafood is linked with decreased risk of breast cancer in Korean women.

Many other studies have associated intake of vegetables with reduced risk of breast cancer. Although the study results may also be applicable to women in other ethnic groups, the protection may vary.

Breast cancer is diagnosed in more than 175,000 women and kills about 50,000 each year in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute. The disease is expected in one in seven women in their lifetime.

The National Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an annual campaign organized by interest groups and drug companies to encourage women to receive breast cancer screening.