More Fiber less Breast Cancer Risk

Research demonstrates women who consume more fiber decrease their risk for breast cancer

Researchers Jia-Yi Dong, Ka He, Peiyu Wang, and Li-Qiang Qin from the Soochow University in Suzhou, China, discovered that women who had consumed the most healthy plant components had a 11% decreased risk for breast cancer in comparison to women who had consumed less amounts.

According to Dr. John Pierce, PhD, cancer researcher at the University of California San Diego, and had no part in the study commented that the results from the study could identify links but could not determine what could happen if people alter their behavior.

Prior observational and preclinical studies advocated that dietary fiber consumption possibly can decrease the risk of breast cancer however, the results are indeterminate.

According to Chinese researchers those who eat high fiber diets have lower estrogen levels which are a risk for breast cancer tumors.

Researchers had identified ten prospective cohort studies of dietary fiber consumption and risk of breast cancer that involved 16,848 cases and 712,195 participants. Researchers than tracked them over a seven year to 18 year span to observe who developed cancer.

Among more than 710,000 women the findings showed 2.4 percent had ended up with breast cancer. The women who were in the top fifth of fiber consumption had an 11% decreased risk to have breast cancer in comparison to those women who ended up in the bottom fifth of fiber consumption.

These figures were after accounting for various differences in risk factors such as alcohol consumption, weight, hormone replacement therapy and family members with the disease.

Researcher Jia-Yi Dong, comments that it is still not likely to rule out big fiber eaters had healthier habits in total which would decrease their risk.

Dr. Christina Clarke, PhD, M.P.H., states even though the association with breast cancer risk and fiber is a small one it is still known that fiber is healthy for you regardless. Dr. Clarke is a research scientist at the Cancer Prevention Institute of California in Fremont.

Dr. Clarke continues that known benefits of a high fiber diet include lower cholesterol and weight loss. If it should turn out to cut cancer risk also that would be an added benefit.

Fruits, vegetables and whole grains are all high in fiber.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines 2010 note that most Americans do not consume enough fiber. The guidelines for women suggest they consume 25 grams of fiber each day and men to consumer 38 grams each day. The average American consumes only 15 grams each day.

The researcher’s conclusions note that their meta-analysis does provide evidence of a remarked changed dose response linked between dietary fiber intake and breast cancer risk.

The research team states that increasing dietary fiber consumption in the general public is of great health significance,

This study appears online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 20, 2011.

The HEAL study which had been just recently published this April in the publication Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.

The study had reported that high consumption of dietary fiber is associated to decreased levels of inflammation in breast cancer survivors.

Another breast cancer research in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition online publication May 2011, had examined the possible association between dietary fiber consumption and breast cancer by hormone receptor status and by various fractions of dietary fiber.

This study had consisted of a selection of 438 women with breast cancer and 438 healthy women matched to the breast cancer patients by age and residential location. The dietary fiber intake was evaluated by face to face interviews which used a food frequency questionnaire and the association between dietary fiber consumption and risk for breast cancer was examined.

Researchers had reported that in comparison to the lowest consumption of fiber, high levels of total dietary fiber were associated to a 69% decrease in breast cancer risk.

In concerns to dietary fiber fractions, breast cancer risk was decreased 27% by soy fiber intake and 52% decrease by vegetable fiber consumption and 46% by fruit fiber consumption.

According to the Mayo Clinic some of the foods associated with high fiber include;

Raspberries, pears, apples with skin, bran flakes, broccoli, potato with skin and raw carrots.