Fw: [HAWK_Health_Awareness] Plant-Based Diet Increases Breast Cancer Survival

[Guest guest]

Plant-Based Diet Increases Breast Cancer Survival

 

We already know that plant-rich diets are rich in health benefits, but I am

always pleased to see research supporting the evidence as to when and why it

matters, since it serves to reinforce the fact that enhancing wellness can

measurably improve our health, even in the face of disease. A recent study

demonstrated that lignans, a class of chemicals in such foods as seeds, whole

grains, fruits and vegetables, may contribute to survival in women with breast

cancer. Researchers from Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York,

asked 1,122 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer between 1996 and

2001 to answer a questionnaire concerning their intake of more than 100 foods.

The results showed that post-menopausal patients who ate a high-lignan diet were

about 70% less likely to die from the cancer. Curiously, lignan intake didn't

make a difference in survival among pre-menopausal women.

 

WHY DID SOME WOMEN LIVE LONGER?

Susan E. McCann, PhD, RD, in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Population

Sciences, was the lead study author. She acknowledged there are several possible

alternate explanations for the difference in survival between pre- and

post-menopausal women -- for instance, in younger women, breast cancer often is

especially aggressive. Also, the fact that there were fewer of these younger,

pre-menopausal women in the study may have affected the statistical significance

of the results. Then again, she says, the younger women reported eating fewer

lignans -- and perhaps this is what made the difference in survival odds.

Previous studies have shown lignans inhibit tumor growth by preventing fresh

blood vessels from forming in them and interfering with growth factors that help

fuel them.

But might a high-lignan intake help prevent cancer from developing in the first

place? Interestingly, several small studies have shown this may help protect

pre-menopausal women against breast cancer, but Dr. McCann says that the

findings overall are inconsistent. For example, she did a study that showed

lignans seemed to help protect women with genetic susceptibility to breast

cancer, which some other studies replicated... and others did not. Dr. McCann is

now conducting new research to investigate further what properties of lignans

contribute to their cancer-fighting effectiveness.

PLAN TO BE A PLANT-EATER

A wide variety of foods contain lignans. Flax seeds are rich in them, but

lignans are present as well in wheat, oats, barley and rye, fruit (especially

berries), legumes, seeds (pumpkin and sesame, for example), a wide variety of

vegetables, tea and even coffee, which after all starts out as a bean. Dr.

McCann says that researchers are currently investigating more about the question

of lignan intake and cancer, but in the meantime, you can pick from any number

of reasons to eat lots of lignans -- in addition to possible cancer protection,

doing so will make it easier to maintain a normal weight, keep diabetes under

control and help protect against a host of other chronic diseases.

Source(s):

 

 

Susan E. McCann, PhD, RD, associate member, Division of Cancer Prevention and

Population Sciences, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York.

 

 

   Suzi 

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http://health.HAWK_Health_Awareness/  

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What is a weed?  A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.