Research
Examines How Breast Cancer Risk May Be Affected by Diet Quality
However, it's not always
obvious which foods or dietary habits are ideal for cancer prevention. Research
suggests that what we eat may affect our chance of developing cancer. The
quality or general healthiness of a person's food may be important, according
to research findings given by Shah et al. at Nutrition 2022 Live Online,
the American Society for Nutrition's annual meeting (Abstract OR07-03-22). A
healthy plant-based diet was associated with a 14 per cent lower risk of breast
cancer, whereas an unhealthy plant-based diet was associated with a 20 per cent
higher risk of breast cancer, according to the study, which was based on
information from over 65,000 postmenopausal women who were followed for more
than 20 years. All subtypes of breast cancer showed the same results.
According to lead study
author Sanam Shah, a doctoral student at the Center for Research in
Epidemiology and Population Health at Paris-Saclay University, INSERM, Gustave
Roussy, "These findings highlight that increasing the consumption of
healthy plant foods and decreasing the consumption of less healthy plant foods
and animal foods might help prevent all types of breast cancer."
Study Context and Specifics
Several dietary patterns,
including the Western diet, the Mediterranean diet, and vegetarian diets, have
been the subject of prior research looking at cancer risks. Although some
studies claim diets with little to no meat consumption is healthy, the evidence
is rather contradictory. In the new study, researchers concentrated on identifying
nutritious plant-based foods (such as whole grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts,
legumes, vegetable oils, tea, and coffee) from less healthy plant-based foods
(such as fruit juices, refined grains, potatoes, sugar-sweetened beverages, and
desserts).
According to Ms. Shah,
the unique aspect of her study is that it was able to separate the effects of
plant food quality, which had not previously been the focus of research on
other dietary patterns. We thoroughly assessed food consumption by taking into
account the "healthiness" of food groupings by scoring healthy,
unhealthy, and animal-based diets.
Data from 65,574
postmenopausal women living in France who completed food intake questionnaires
between 1993 and 2005 and were tracked for an average of 21 years were reviewed
by the researchers. 3,968 study participants had breast cancer at some point
throughout the invited breast cancer rates among women with various dietary
quality were compared, and it became clear that those with healthy and bad
diets had significantly varied cancer risks. The degree to which participants
followed a plant-based versus an animal-based diet and consumed healthful
versus less nutritious meals was categorized by the researchers using 18 food
groupings. A plant-based diet, according to Ms. Shah, refers to a general
preference for plant-based over animal-based meals rather than being vegan or
vegetarian.
Ms. Shah stated that
additional research is required to evaluate the links between diet and cancer
risk in varied populations, despite the data suggesting that choosing
nutritious plant-based meals is probably useful for cancer prevention (in
particular, to determine causality)