Healthy diet reduces risk of breast cancer recurrence

Results of a large trial of women with breast cancer has revealed that eating a low-fat diet containing plenty of fruit, vegetables, and fiber can significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence in women who did not experience hot flashes.

Breast cancer patients who do not suffer from hot flashes are more likely to suffer a recurrence of the disease and are less likely to survive breast cancer than patients who do have hot flashes.

Professor Ellen B Gold and colleagues studied 3,088 breast cancer survivors, 900 of which were women who did not have hot flashes.  The women were randomly assigned to follow one of two diets. 447 women who did not experience hot flashes were randomized to a special, “intervention” high-vegetable fruit diet while the remaining 453 were assigned to the government-recommended diet of five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Results showed that the risk of breast cancer recurrence was 31% lower in women following the intervention diet compared to those eating the government-recommended five-a-day diet. The effect of the diet was even greater in postmenopausal women, with the intervention diet reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence by 47%.

“Our results suggest that a major change in diet may help overcome the difference in prognosis between women with and without hot flashes,” said Professor Gold in a news release.

News release: Diet May Cut Second Breast Cancers in Women Without Hot Flashes. University of California, San Diego Health Sciences. December 12th 2008.