Low-fat diet reduces risk of Breast Cancer

Eating less fat and more fruits and vegetables reduces postmenopausal women’s chances of being diagnosed with breast cancer and then dying, from any cause, according to a new analysis of data from a Women’s Health Initiative study presented Monday at the American Association for Cancer Research conference.
In the mid-1990s, almost 50,000 postmenopausal women were enrolled in a study designed to look at the effect of a low-fat, high fruit and vegetable diet on breast cancer risk. When the researchers focused their analysis on breast cancer followed by death within the planned eight-year period during which study participants changed their diets, they saw that women on the low-fat diet were 35 percent less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer and then die from any cause. They also found that consuming a low-fat diet boosted survival of women with breast cancer by 20 percent.
Tumors can grow for decades before producing symptoms, responding to cues from environmental and lifestyle factors, including nutrition and physical activity. The team saw that women who were diagnosed with breast cancer early and on the low-fat diet longest during treatment seemed to do better.