Reason 283 to Have a Salad for Lunch Today: Fiber Is Shown to Lower Your Breast Cancer Risk
Bust out the big salad while you're still in your salad days: Women who chow down on more high-fiber foods during adolescence and young adulthood—especially fruits and veggies—have a lower risk of developing breast cancer, according to a new large-scale study from Harvard.
Researchers combed through data on 90,534 women. Twenty-five years ago, the participants (ages 27 to 44 at the time) reported their food intake, and did so every four years after that. They also filled out a questionnaire about their diet during high school, a peek back into how they ate during adolescence.
After controlling for other factors such as race, family history of breast cancer, body mass index, weight change over time, menstruation history, alcohol use, and other dietary factors, they found that breast cancer risk was 12 percent to 19 percent lower for women who ate more fiber during early adulthood. In fact, for every additional 10 grams of daily dietary fiber (the amount in an apple and two slices of whole-grain bread), BC risk dropped by 13 percent. The biggest benefit seemed to come from fruit and vegetable fiber.
"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," lead author Maryam Farvid said in a statement. "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."
Scientists aren't totally clear on why fiber slashes the risk of breast cancer, but they think the stuff might help reduce estrogen levels in the blood. High estrogen levels are strongly linked with breast cancer development, the study authors note.
"From many other studies, we know that breast tissue is particularly influenced by carcinogens and anticarcinogens during childhood and adolescence," study coauthor Walter Willett added. "We now have evidence that what we feed our children during this period of life is also an important factor in future cancer risk." And that what we scarf as young adults can set us up for lifelong breast health. To the salad bar with you, darling!
More from Vitamin G: