Could A Fiber-Rich Diet Decrease Breast Cancer Risk?

According to a new study, maintaining a diet rich with high-fiber foods in adolescence and early adulthood could decrease female patients’ risk of breast cancer later in life.

A team led by Maryam Farvid, PhD, a visiting scientist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, evaluated data from 90,534 women who took part in the Nurses’ Health Study II. Farvid and colleagues collected information about patients’ food intake via a dietary questionnaire they completed in 1991—at which time the participants were between the ages of 27 and 44—and subsequently gathered such information every 4 years. In 1998, the women completed another questionnaire in which they were asked about their food intake in high school. The authors used the dietary data they gleaned to assess participants’ fiber intake, as well as evaluating the incidence of breast cancer among these women.
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In comparison to those with low-fiber intake in their early adult years, those who were characterized as having high-fiber intake were found to be at 12% to 19% lower risk of breast cancer overall. High-fiber intake during adolescence was linked to a 16% lower risk of breast cancer, while those adhering to high-fiber diets during adolescence demonstrated a 24% lower risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer.

Farvid and her co-authors also found that breast cancer risk dropped as fiber intake increased. For example, every 10 grams of fiber consumed daily was associated with a 13% lower breast cancer risk. Fiber found in fruits and vegetables were connected to the strongest reduction in breast cancer risk, according to the researchers.

The results “emphasize the role of early-life high-fiber diet on the prevention of breast cancer later in life,” says Farvid, who notes that “women are doing themselves a favor in terms of breast cancer prevention if they increase the amount of dietary fiber intake earlier in life rather than later.”

Establishing and adhering to a high-fiber diet “would not be difficult,” continues Farvid, adding that “primary care practitioners should encourage teens and their parents to include plenty of foods rich in fiber, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, or nuts at a young age.”

—Mark McGraw

Reference

Farvid M, Eliassen H, et al. Dietary fiber intake in young adults and breast cancer risk. Pediatrics. 2016.