Mediterranean diet may help stop breast cancer returning, study says
Researchers suggest fish, fruit, vegetables and olive oil are key ingredients which could contribute to keeping disease at bay
Eating a Mediterranean diet, rich in fruit, vegetables, fish and olive oil, may help prevent breast cancer returning, according to a study presented at a major international cancer conference.
Lifestyle – whether people are physically active or not – and being overweight are known risk factors for breast cancer, but there is increasing interest in whether particular eating habits play a part in its occurrence and recurrence.
The study, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago, is a trial in Italy which compared the outcomes for 307 women who had been treated for early breast cancer. One group of 199 women were asked to eat a Mediterranean diet, involving four portions of vegetables, three pieces of fruit and one serving of grains a day, together with four or more servings of fish each week, some red and processed meat and plenty of olive oil. They were allowed up to one alcoholic drink a day.
The other group of 108 women were asked to eat their normal diet, but given advice on healthy food by a dietician.
The cancer researchers at Piacenza hospital, Italy, found that after three years, 11 women from the group eating a normal diet suffered a return of their breast cancer, while none of those eating a Mediterranean diet did.
Experts say the study is small and has limitations, but raises issues of great interest. “The whole topic of lifestyle interventions for breast cancer survivors is a very important one. There is substantial research going on into what we should be recommending,” says Dr Erica Mayer, an ASCO expert in breast cancer, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and director of clinical research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the US.