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Breast Cancer Risks May Be Reduced With Early Diet Changes, Study
Indicates
 Auburn,
Feb. 4, 2003
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Researchers have uncovered yet more evidence that modest lifestyle
changes undertaken early in life can produce major benefits years,
even decades, down the road.
A recent study conducted by researchers at the
Fox
Chase
Cancer
Center
in Philadelphia involving almost 300 prepubescent girls reveals that
a moderately low-fat diet can dramatically reduce female hormone
levels, possibly lowering the risk of breast cancer later in life.
The
study corresponds with a tide of mounting concern over the steep
increase in obesity in children.
“The
way things stand now, we’re seeing more children getting fat before
puberty and staying that way into early adulthood,” Keith says.
“And they’re in big trouble when they enter adulthood with this
extra weight because by then, it’s very difficult to get rid of it.”
This
is especially a problem for young girls, Keith says, since many, for
whatever reason, become increasingly physically inactive as they get
older.
“We
really begin seeing this inactivity setting in by the teen years,“
Keith says. “At age 6, there are almost as many girls as physically
active as boys. But by the time girls reach 16, you see a
significant drop in physical activity.
Many
of these girls will later pay a heavy price later in life. For even
as they become less physically active and gain weight, they begin
secreting higher levels of two types of hormones, estrogens and
progesterone, both of which are linked with certain types of breast
cancer.
However, the study revealed that girls starting between the ages of
8 and 10 who were placed on a moderate-fat diet, deriving about 28
percent of calories from fat significantly reduced their secretion
of these hormones during the course of the study. The typical
American diet, by comparison, derives about 34 percent of calories
from fat.
After five years, for example, girls following the moderate-fat diet
had 29.8 percent lower levels of the hormone estradiol, 20.7 percent
lower estrone, and 28.7 percent lower estrone sulfate levels – all
variants of the hormone estrogen, which is linked with breast
cancer.
After seven years, the girls also had half the progesterone levels
during the second half of their menstrual cycles as did girls in the
control group who did not follow the moderate low-fat diet.
One
interesting question raised by the study was whether it was the
moderate fat reduction that actually caused these steep reductions.
In the course of the study, some of the saturated fat was replaced
with dietary fiber, and it’s possible this played an even more
significant role in reducing hormone levels.
“What they don’t emphasize is that whenever you lower dietary fat,
you never know for sure what really is taking place,” Keith says.
“They lowered fat, and as a result, dietary fiber went up.”
“So
was it the reduction in fat or the fact that more fiber was added to
the diet that made the difference?”
Previous studies, in fact, have shown that fiber apparently plays a
role in reducing hormone levels and, as a result, breast cancer
risk.
Exercise also has been shown to play a role in lowering these
hormone levels, Keith says. Studies, in fact, have shown that women
athletes have lower levels of these hormones and may even start
their menstrual cycles at a later age.
What
this means, Keith says, is that there may be a relatively easy way
for young girls to make significant reductions in their
breast-cancer risks.
“This study and previous studies are establishing a strong case that
a diet somewhat lower in fat, coupled with a daily regimen of
moderate exercise, may lead to significant reductions in the risk of
breast cancer, which remains the nation’s second leading cancer
killer among women.”
(Source:
Dr. Robert Keith,
Alabama
Cooperative Extension System Nutritionist, 334-844-3273.)
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