Fruits and Vegetables decrease recurrences in early stage breast cancer- study

22/09/05 Researchers from the University of California at San Diego, Kaiser Permanente of Northern California, Arizona Cancer Center, and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have reported that women with early breast cancer who have a high intake of fruits and vegetables, as measured by plasma carotenoids, have a lower rate of disease recurrence than women with a low intake as measured by low plasma carotenoids. The details of this study appeared in the September 20, 2005, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology .

Diets rich in fruits and vegetables have been associated with a lower incidence of several cancers, including breast cancers. This has been attributed to anti-oxidants, but could also be due to the fact that individuals who consume large quantities of fruits and vegetables are not obese. In terms of risk of breast cancer, it has been speculated that diet is more important during the early years of growth and development than later in life. Recent studies of the influence of fruit and vegetable intake on the incidence of breast cancer risk have been negative.

The authors of the current study stated that the effects of fruits and vegetables on recurrence of early breast cancer are also unclear. Most of the studies performed to date utilize self-reported dietary history for categorization into high and low intakes. However, the current study used plasma carotenoids as a measurement of fruit and vegetable intake. Women in this study were controls in a randomized trial of dietary intervention for the prevention of relapses after treatment of stage I-IIIA breast cancer.

There were 1,551 women in this study who had been followed for an average of seven years. Mean carotenoid consumption for the entire cohort was 13.74 mg/day. During this period of time, there were 205 recurrences. Plasma carotenoid concentrations were divided into quartiles. Women who were in the highest quartile had a 43% reduction in the risk of cancer recurrence compared to women in the lowest quartile when all other risk factors were taken into account in multivariate analyses.

These authors concluded that increased vegetable and fruit intake was beneficial in improving recurrence-free survival in women with early stage breast cancer.

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