Fruits and vegetables in diet can lower risk of breast cancer, aggressive tumours

Consuming high amount of fruits and vegetables may put women at a lower risk of breast cancer, especially of aggressive tumours, a new study suggests. The findings suggested that women, among the study participants, who ate more than 5.5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day had an 11% lower risk of breast cancer than those who ate only 2.5 or fewer servings.

The researchers also found that higher consumption of fruits and vegetables was particularly associated with lower risk of more aggressive tumours including ER-negative, HER2-enriched and basal-like tumours. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, yellow and orange vegetables had a particularly significant association with lower breast cancer risk, suggests the study published in the International Journal of Cancer.

This suggests that other constituents of these foods, such as antioxidants and other micro-nutrients, may also be important in reducing breast cancer risk. “Although prior studies have suggested an association, they have been limited in power, particularly for specific fruits and vegetables and aggressive subtypes of breast cancer,” said first author Maryam Farvid from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

“This research provides the most complete picture of the importance of consuming high amounts of fruit and vegetables for breast cancer prevention,” Farvid added.

Previous studies have linked higher fibre intake with reduced risk of breast cancer, but the benefits of fruits and vegetables found in this study appear to be independent of their fibre content, the researchers noted.

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