Healthy choices can help prevent breast cancer

To the Editor:

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and as a dietitian, I recognize the strong need to focus on healthy lifestyle choices that can help prevent breast cancer. Scientific evidence shows that the foods women eat have an important effect on breast cancer risk.

Consumption of fruits, vegetables, and soy helps reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to a recent large study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Postmenopausal women who consumed plenty of fruits, vegetables, and soy had a 30 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer, compared with those who consumed relatively little of these foods. The longer the women had consumed these healthful foods, the less chance they had of developing breast cancer.

Diets rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other low-fat plant foods can also help women with breast cancer greatly reduce their risk of recurrence. For more information about nutrition and cancer, visit www.CancerProject.org.

Sincerely,

Joseph Gonzales, R.D.

Staff Dietitian

The Cancer Project