High fiber intake lowers risk of breast cancer

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Women who want to reduce their risk of developing breast cancer should seriously consider increasing their intake of dietary fiber. A study reported in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that those who consumed the most fiber had a 11% lower risk of developing breast cancer compared with women who ate the least.

The authors stressed that according to their findings, it appears that a high dietary fiber intake is associated with better overall health, which may risk of breast cancer, instead of just the fiber itself lowers risk of ownership.

The authors stated that previous studies had suggested a link between reducing breast cancer risk and fiber intake, but their results were unclear.

Jia-Yi Dong, of the Department of nutrition and food hygiene, School of Medicine of the radiation and public health, Soochow University, Suzhou, China, and team collected data from a database PubMed published studies by January 2011. They looked at 10 prior studies on women's diets and risk of cancer over a period of 7 to 18 years.

712,195 Woman, 2.4% (16,848) developed breast cancer. They found that the women who most fibres (upper fifth ate) were 11% less risk of cancer of the breast in comparison with the bottom fifth. She had already processed for variables that can affect the results, such as the consumption of alcohol, HRT (hormone replacement therapy), family history of breast cancer, and body weight.

Jia-Yi Dong wrote that it is possible that higher fibre eaters generally have healthier habits and lifestyles, and that several factors protected them against cancer of the breast.

About 1 in 8 women in the United States develops breast cancer, and between 20% and 25% of them die of the disease.

The researchers concluded:

"This meta-analysis provides evidence of a significant inverse dose-response relationship between dietary fiber intake and breast cancer risk of cancer."

Written by Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News today
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Article reference:
"Dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies"
Jia-Yi Dong, Ka he, Wang Peiyu and Qin Li-Qiang
Am J Clin Nutr August 2011. DOI: 10.3945/111.015578 ajcn.