Mediterranean Diet May Prevent Breast Cancer From Recurring

Diets have been known to a lot of good though most people have associated them with obesity and weight loss issues. A new research involving the Mediterranean diet offers an interesting twist, something that is associated with potentially lowering the risk of breast cancer.

A study involving more than 300 women carrying early stage cancer supported this claim, something that backs up previous researches. The findings were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) conference held in Chicago, where diets were seen as a key recourse as far as lowering the chances of cancer.

Skimming down the items which the Mediterranean diet focuses on (i.e. fish, fruits, nuts, seeds, olive oil and vegetables) plus the controlled consumption of red meat and alcohol, a study claiming the reduced risk on breast cancer does make sense.

The latest study was carried out at the Piacenza Hospital over in Italy, where women who were in remission with breast cancer were tracked for three years. The results showed that 11 patients on a normal diet incurred breast cancer once more compared to the ones who followed the Mediterranean diet who had none.

"Lifestyle choices like eating a well-balanced diet, taking regular exercise and maintaining a healthy weight can all help reduce the risk of cancer coming back, but they can't prevent it completely," says Samia al Qadhi, chief executive of Breast Cancer Care.

A previous research published in the JAMA Internal Medicine Journal could expound a bit, technically referring to extra virgin oil as a possible reason behind the lowered risk of breast cancer when the Mediterranean diet is followed.

From that study that involved 4,000 women, it was found that the Mediterranean diet with extra olive oil seemed to have reduced the risk of breast cancer by an astounding 68%. Could this be the key component in the Mediterranean diet that women should follow?

Al Qadhi explains that discovering breakthroughs that would help breast cancer is important but as far as the recent study is concerned, it would be best to do the study using a wider scope.

“This is a small study which only followed women for three years. We look forward to seeing results of longer term studies,” says al Qadhi.

But like most experts, it looks like most are saying the same thing – the incurrence of breast cancer depends a lot on the lifestyle choices that women follow.