Breast Cancer Survivors - Can Diet Influence The Risk Of Getting Breast Cancer?

More and more studies showing now that the type of foods we eat can genetically modify our bodies and the risk of all major diseases.

For years, researchers have studied the role of diet in breast cancer. By comparing different countries, researchers found strong links between high fat diets and breast cancer risk. The disease is rare where the diets are very low in fat and where rice and other plant products are dietary staples. For example, before 1950, the rice-based Japanese diet drew less than 10 percent of its calories from fat. Breast cancer was exceedingly rare. But over the years, as Western influences have altered Japanese eating habits, breast cancer rates have climbed dramatically.

These international studies are just one line of evidence, however. Case-control studies are another research tool in which researchers compare diets of cancer patients ( "case") with those of healthy women of similar age and background ( " control"). Such studies have also shown a links between fatty diets and higher risk of breast cancer, and even on cancer patient's chances for survival. One study tracking Canadian breast cancer patients for ten years found that for 5 percent increase in saturated fat in diets, the risk of dying of breast cancer shot up by 50 percent.

How does fat do its dirty work? Fat increase the amount of estrogen in the blood. In turn, this hormone stimulates breast cells in such a way that cancer is more likely to occur and is more aggressive. Fatty foods also leads to obesity which itself is linked to higher estrogen levels in the blood. Increased estrogen levels are also linked with early menarche ( onset of first period), also a breast cancer risk factor.

Despite such evidence, doubts about the fat connection have persisted, fueled mainly by the results of a large study of nurses run by Harvard University in which researchers found no association between fatty diets and breast cancer rates.

Why the conflicting results? Unlike the populations examined in international studies, the nurse were a fairly homogeneous group, all eating fairly high-fats diets. No group in the study was following anything similar to a traditional Asian diet or other low -fat diet.

As important as it is to get fat off your plate, it's just as important to pile on the vegetables and other healthful plants foods. Their fiber helps cut breast cancer risk by naturally decreasing estrogen levels. Plants foods are also rich in beta-carotene, vitamin C, and other vitamins which protect cells against damage. Unlike animal products, most plants foods have little fat and do not store up large amounts of pesticide residue.

A brisk morning walk- or any other regular exercise- also helps cut breast cancer risk.

Of course, the good fats ( omega 3 and 6), known as essential fatty acids are vital to one's health. Their paramount importance comes from the facts that they constitute the membranes of every cell in the body, therefore the ones allowing nutrients into the cells ( to the eliminated).
The major organ helping fats metabolism is the liver, therefore ensuring that the liver always works well one can reduce breast cancer risks.