Small Lifestyle Changes Help Prevent Cancer

“Still, consumption of a Mediterranean diet, which is based on plant foods, fish, and extra virgin olive oil, is known to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and is safe”. It also replaces butter with healthy fats, such as olive oil.

But the study’s results may be too good to be true, some experts said.

Researchers said, Women should be encouraged to eat more extra-virgin olive oil, salads with fresh vegetables and have fruit for dessert.

This isn’t the first study to link the Mediterranean diet with potential breast cancer risk reduction.

He also Said, Extra-virgin olive oil in particular is rich in compounds called polyphenols, which have been shown in lab studies to have anti-cancer effects.

Being obese has a negative effect on breast cancer outcomes.

She said that after cutting out smoking, being a healthy body weight was the most important thing people could do to cut their risk of getting cancer.

About 38% of new incidences of breast cancer (20,300 cases) could be prevented every year, along with 19,800 cases of bowel cancer, 2,200 cases of kidney cancer and 1,400 cases of pancreatic cancer. So the whopping drop in breast cancer risk came from just a handful of breast cancers. And olive oil appeared to play a key role, since simply switching to a Mediterranean diet and adding nuts didn’t appear to provide the same benefits.

A statistical analysis showed that the differences between the low-fat and nut-rich diets could have been due to chance. After a median follow-up of almost five years, researchers identified 35 confirmed new cases of malignant breast cancer. “We are kidding ourselves if we think we can treat our way out of the problem”.

The truth, she said, is likely to be more complicated. That’s because the study targeted a very specific population of women at high risk of heart disease. The women were an average age of 67.7 years, had an average body mass index of 30.4, most were postmenopausal, and less than 3 percent used hormonal therapy. “The main risk factors for breast cancer remain out of our control – being female, getting older and, for some people, a significant family history of the disease”. The women were primarily white.

The researchers said it was hard to pinpoint which was the most beneficial part of the diet.

“The link between tobacco and cancer is widely known and readily accepted by the public, but many are not yet fully convinced that healthy eating, regular exercise and not drinking alcohol, can lower your cancer risk”. It may also prevent breast cancer. “Preventive strategies represent the most sensible approach against cancer”.

Still, Love said there’s no risk to following a Mediterranean diet, given its proven benefits for the heart.

He said one major factor was that cancer prevention was not in the public consciousness.