Healthiest Diet Made Little Difference to Breast Cancer Survivors

Regimen exceeding national guidelines didn't protect more from recurrence, study finds.

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
Tuesday, July 17, 2007; 12:00 AM

Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

TUESDAY, July 17 (HealthDay News) -- While a healthy diet remains a mainstay of cancer prevention, eating more than the recommended amounts of fruits, vegetables and fiber won't give you added protection against breast cancer, new research suggests.

This study of breast cancer survivors found no statistically significant benefit in terms of being diagnosed with breast cancer again for women who followed a diet that encouraged eating at least eight servings of vegetables and fruits, at least 30 grams of fiber, and no more than 15 percent to 20 percent of fat.

"Clearly, there's a threshold for prevention. You don't have to go overboard. The national guidelines are good enough," said study author John Pierce, director of cancer prevention at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego.

Results of the study are in the July 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Breast cancer accounts for about one in three of all cancers diagnosed in women, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). More than 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States each year, and more than 40,000 American women die from breast cancer annually, according to the ACS.

Many previous studies have suggested that a diet full of fruits, vegetables and fiber, but low in fat, can reduce the risk of certain cancers. To assess whether or not improving the diet over and above what's already recommended could provide a more significant benefit, Pierce and his colleagues recruited more than 3,000 women who'd already been diagnosed with and treated for early-stage breast cancer.

The women were between the ages of 18 and 70 and had no evidence of recurrent breast cancer at the start of the study.

The volunteers were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The intervention group included 1,537 women who were given telephone counseling along with cooking classes and newsletters that recommended five servings of vegetables, one serving of vegetable juice, three servings of fruit, at least 30 grams of fiber and no more than 15 percent to 20 percent of daily calories from fat. A comparison group included 1,551 women who were given printed materials that recommended the current national guidelines of five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.