Diet[/B] has been shown to contribute significantly to maintaining good health.[/B] It's telling that women who watch what they put on their plates post-breastfeeding face a reduced risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer.
As long as they choose the right foods, new research involving tens of thousands of women shows. What are they? Plant-based foods, as this is what scientists attributed the risk reduction - which, it should be noted, was estimated at 14% on average
However, the research team went a step further by creating a list of those plant-based foods that are most beneficial. More specifically, only those who had whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and vegetable oils high in their daily preferences reaped this protection. Also included in the same list were tea and coffee - but without sugar.
Importantly, it is important to point out that their good dietary choices acted as a protective shield even though they occasionally consumed red meat and poultry.
In contrast, their peers whose diets were largely unhealthy, although high in plant-based foods, did not enjoy the same benefits, as the same study data showed. Such a diet was one in which fruit juices with added sugar, processed cereals (e.g. white pasta, white breakfast cereals, etc.), potatoes, sugary drinks and sweet treats were prominent. In fact, those who had adopted poor dietary habits had a 20% greater risk of developing breast cancer.
The study
The study began in 1993. Then the women who joined it completed a detailed diet questionnaire, a process that was repeated in 2005. Then and based on the data collected, they were classified into categories according to their consumption of animal products and subcategories according to their consumption of vegetable products. The classification was based on 18 different food categories.
The average age of the women at the start of the study was 21 years, with the researchers observing them for 21 years. In between, 3,968 of them developed breast cancer.
From an analysis of the available data, the research team found that diet was strongly associated with the risk of developing the disease. They stress that the 14% reduction in risk is very significant, given that every woman in the world has a one in eight chance of developing this cancer.
However, it is important to stress that the findings of this new study were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nutrition (Nutrition 2022). The findings are therefore considered preliminary until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal after evaluation by a team of independent experts.
Beneficial foods
In any case, the findings of the study lead to the conclusion that it is a misconception that a diet that does not contain a lot of meat - let alone processed meat - is healthy, as the lead researcher Dr. Sanam Shah, a PhD candidate in epidemiology at the University of Paris-Saclay, France.
"Not all plant-based diets are equally healthy," she said. "Many people think that if they cut out meat and its products they are eating healthily, but this is not the case. It does matter what kind of plant-based foods one consumes."
However, as she explained, none of the women in the study had completely eliminated meat from their diets. Moreover, none of them were vegetarian, so they also ate dairy products, fish and eggs.
The question that arises, however, is how a diet rich in healthy plant foods reduces the risk of breast cancer. But the answer remains unknown, as the exact mechanism has not yet been decoded. Dr. Shah, however, believes that the key is probably fibre, which exerts anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.
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