May 15 at 7:34 PM
A low-fat diet rich in fruits, vegetables and
grains may lower women’s risk of dying of breast cancer, according to
the results of a major study released Wednesday. (iStock)
Women
who followed a lower-fat diet rich in fruits, vegetables and grains had
a lower risk of dying of breast cancer than those on a higher-fat diet,
according to the results of major study released Wednesday.
The
conclusions, from the latest analysis of the federally funded Women’s
Health Initiative, provide the first randomized clinical-trial evidence
that diet can reduce postmenopausal women’s risk of dying of breast
cancer, the researchers said. Past observational studies, which do not
measure cause and effect, have had inconsistent findings.
The
results “are exciting and empowering for the patient,” said Elisa Port,
chief of breast surgery at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, who
was not involved in the study. “This is a wake-up call for women —
there’s something they can do, rather than just waiting for the shoe to
drop.”
The trial involved more than 48,000 women who did
not have breast cancer when they enrolled in the study and was conducted
at 40 centers across the United States. From 1993 to 1998, the women
were randomly assigned either to follow their usual diet, in which fat
accounted for 32 percent of daily calories on average, or to try to
reduce fat intake to 20 percent of calories while consuming daily
servings of vegetables, fruit and grains.
The
dietary-intervention group fell short of the goal; they managed to
reduce their fat consumption to about 24.5 percent, and then “drifted up
to about 29 percent,” according to lead study author Rowan Chlebowski
of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical
Center. Members of the group lost 3 percent of their body weight on
average. Still, the women in that group who developed breast cancer had a
lower risk of death than the women developed the disease and followed
their regular diets.
Chlebowski said the study
showed that women could improve their health by making modest changes in
what and how much they eat. “This is dietary moderation. It’s not like
eating twigs and branches,” he said. “It’s what people were eating, say,
20 years ago, before you could pick up 900 calories in one candy bar.”
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