Eating Fiber Could Reduce Breast Cancer Odds
It’s always nice when research proves what many health advocates and holistic doctors (and their patients) have known for some time because it means that maybe those who won’t think out of the box may get the help they need.
On February 1st, Pediatrics published a new study by Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which found that adolescence and young women who eat more high-fiber foods (ESPECIALLY fruits and vegetables) could significantly reduce the chance of having breast cancer later in life.
From the article at Science Daily:
“Previous studies of fiber intake and breast cancer have almost all been non-significant, and none of them examined diet during adolescence or early adulthood, a period when breast cancer risk factors appear to be particularly important,” said Maryam Farvid, visiting scientist at Harvard Chan School and lead author of the study. “This work on the role of nutrition in early life and breast cancer incidence suggests one of the very few potentially modifiable risk factors for premenopausal breast cancer.”
The researchers at Harvard spoke to 90,534 women about their diet, beginning in 1991, and every four years after that. They then filled out a questionnaire in 1998 about what they ate in high school. From there the researchers were able to analyze the data with family history, race, body mass index, and alcohol use, as factors. WCPO reports that what they found was for women who ate, “more dietary fiber as young adults were 12 to 19 percent less likely to develop breast cancer. The study found that for each additional 10 grams of daily fiber intake, women could reduce their chance of breast cancer by 13 percent. Ten grams is roughly the amount of fiber in a one apple or two slices of whole wheat bread”(We would advocate for the apple).
The researchers believe that eating foods high in fiber during adolescence, when breast tissue is growing, may cut the risk partly by reducing high levels of estrogen in the blood, as that hormone is strongly linked with breast cancer development. Therefore, eating lots of fiber, according to the study, could lower your risk by 24 percent (before menopause) and 16 percent overall, potentially.
More from WCPO:
“From many other studies we know that breast tissue is particularly influenced by carcinogens and anticarcinogens during childhood and adolescence,” said Walter Willett, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard, and senior author of the study. “We now have evidence that what we feed our children during this period of life is also an important factor in future cancer risk.”
Truer words have never been spoken. It’s time for people to stop feeding their children the easiest thing lying around. No more McDonalds or yogurt filled with sugar. Pop Tarts are poison and so is most cereal. We need to be discerning for our kids since they can’t make the best health choices. At this point, the word is out, if we refuse to be proactive we are not only setting our children up for heart disease, diabetes and cancer but we are doing so knowingly- and that’s abuse. Our children deserve good, whole, beautifully colored, heathy fruits and vegetables. If you eat meat, they deserve humanly raised and processed (think small farm) organic lean meats, and in moderation. We simply must begin to think more of and do better for the next generation. They are our future.
Source: WCPO & Science Daily
