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Postmenopausal patients: Eat Your Peaches
By Marilynn Larkin
Studies have shown that following a healthy diet plays a role in prevention of breast cancer incidence and recurrence. Now a small study, the first of its kind, goes further by suggesting that eating foods rich in lignans—plant compounds structurally similar to estrogen and found in seeds, nuts, whole grains, vegetables and other foods—could also improve the chances of survival in postmenopausal breast cancer patients.
Susan E. McCann, PhD, RD, of the Roswell Park Institute in Buffalo, had previously conducted the Western New York Exposures and Breast Cancer Study, which analyzed the eating habits of 1,122 women with breast cancer. They found that a diet high in lignans was linked to a lowered risk of hormone receptor-negative breast cancer in premenopausal women. Curious to see what effect lignans might have on survival rates, McCann and her colleagues looked at the study results again.
Although there was no association between lignan intake and mortality in premenopausal patients, postmenopausal women who ate lignan-rich foods such as whole-grain bread, peaches, oranges, broccoli and coffee were 70 percent less likely to die of breast cancer than those who did not. McCann presented the results at the 2008 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. McCann cautions that although the results are promising, more research in larger populations is needed to confirm the findings. In the meantime, she recommends a lignan-rich diet for overall health.
