American Institute for Cancer Research recommendation compliance associated not only with cancer prevention and survival but less heart and respiratory disease mortality and a longer lifespan.
Which Dietary Factors Affect Breast Cancer Most?
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My favorite cancer-specific charity is the American Institute for Cancer Research, shown here lauding the China Study and the documentary Forks Over Knives, with which they share the same bottom-line message. The healthiest diets are those that revolve around whole plant foods. This increased awareness of the importance of plant-based eating is something all of them at AICR welcome.
They then translate that advice into their Ten Recommendations for Cancer Prevention. Do we actually have evidence, though, that those who follow such advice are actually protected against cancer? We do now.
Breast cancer risk was reduced by 60% in women who met at least five recommendations compared with those who met none. The most important dietary advice was be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight, eat mostly foods of plant origin, and limit alcoholic drinks.
What about other cancers? Greater adherence to the AICR dietary guidelines was associated with significantly less breast, endometrial, colorectal, lung, kidney, stomach, oral, liver, and esophageal cancer. In other words, adherence to dietary recommendations for cancer prevention may lower the risk of developing most types of cancer. The drop in bladder cancer did not reach statistical significance here, but a larger follow-up study following 469,000 people for 11 years, the largest to date, found that just a 3% increase in the consumption of animal protein calories was associated with a 15% higher risk of bladder cancer whereas just a 2% increase in plant protein was associated with a 23% lower risk.
AICR recommendation #10 is that cancer survivors should follow the recommendations for cancer prevention. The same diet that can help prevent cancer in the first place can be used to help save your life after diagnosis.
Adherence to the guidelines for cancer prevention was found to be associated with lower mortality among older female cancer survivors, including specifically breast cancer, and other cancers in general.
A cancer diagnosis is considered a teachable moment to get people eating and living healthier. They revel at the growth in the number of cancer survivors in this country, now 10 million strong and growing. It’s great that those with cancer are living longer, but even better to prevent it in the first place so we can all live longer.
Not only does adherence to the guidelines lower cancer risk, but extends lifespan in general, because they’re also significantly associated with a lower hazard of dying from heart disease and respiratory disease, suggesting that following the recommendations could significantly increase longevity as well. What’s good for cancer is also good for your heart, and it’s good for your lungs.
Just like eating to prevent cancer helps to prevent heart disease, eating to protect your heart helps prevent cancer. I know it sounds self-evident, but adherence to a healthy lifestyle has been shown to be associated with a lower risk of mortality. And the more healthy behaviors we have, the longer we get to live. That can mean not smoking, or walking every day, or eating green leafy vegetables at least almost daily.
To help differentiate the effects of diet from other lifestyle behaviors like smoking and drinking on cancer incidence, Adventists were recently compared to Baptists. Both discourage alcohol and tobacco, but the Adventists go further, encouraging a reduction in meat. In general, the Adventists had lower cancer hazard rates than the Baptists, and within Adventist populations, the vegetarians did even better, and those eating the most plants did the best.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- M Loef, H Walach. The combined effects of healthy lifestyle behaviors on all cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Prev Med. 2012 Sep;55(3):163-70.
- CDC. Cancer Survivorship --- United States, 1971—2001. MMWR June 25, 2004/ 53(24); 525-529.
- D Romaguera. A C Vergnaud, P H Peeters, C H van Gils, D S Chan, and more. Is concordance with World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research guidelines for cancer prevention related to subsequent risk of cancer? Results from the EPIC study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Jul;96(1):150-63.
- A C Vergnaud, D Romaguera, PH Peeters, C H Chan and more. Adherence to the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research guidelines and risk of death in Europe: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer cohort study1,4. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 May;97(5):1107-20.
- T A Hastert, S A Beresford, R E Patterson, A R Kristal, E White. Adherence to WCRF/AICR cancer prevention recommendations and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 Sep;22(9):1498-508.
- M Inoue-Choi, K Robien, D Lazovich. Adherence to the WCRF/AICR guidelines for cancer prevention is associated with lower mortality among older female cancer survivors. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 May;22(5):792-802.
- L C Thygesen, N C Hvidt, H P Hansen, A Hoff, L Ross, C Johansen. Cancer incidence among Danish Seventh-day Adventists and Baptists. Cancer Epidemiol. 2012 Dec;36(6):513-8.
- L J Rasmussen-Torvik, C M Shay, J G Abramson, C A Friedrich, J A Nettleton, A E Prizment, A R Folsom. Ideal cardiovascular health is inversely associated with incident cancer: the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities study. Circulation. 2013 Mar 26;127(12):1270-5.
- P A Ganz. A teachable moment for oncologists: cancer survivors, 10 million strong and growing! J Clin Oncol. 2005 Aug 20;23(24):5458-60.
- N E Allen, P N Appleby, T J Key, H B Bueno-de-Mesquita, M M Ros, L A Kiemeney, and more. Macronutrient intake and risk of urothelial cell carcinoma in the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition. Int J Cancer. 2013 Feb 1;132(3):635-44.
- AICR, the China Study, and Forks Over Knives. American Institute of Cancer Research September 25, 2013.
- Y Tantamango-Bartley, K Jaceldo-Siegl, J Fan, G Fraser. Vegetarian diets and the incidence of cancer in a low-risk population. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 Feb;22(2):286-94.
Images thanks to istorywriter via Pixabay.
- Adventist Health Studies
- alcohol
- beverages
- bladder cancer
- breast cancer
- cancer
- cancer survival
- cardiovascular disease
- China Study
- endometrial cancer
- esophageal cancer
- greens
- heart disease
- kidney cancer
- lifespan
- lifestyle medicine
- liver cancer
- longevity
- lung cancer
- mortality
- oral cancer
- plant protein
- Plant-Based Diets
- smoking
- stomach cancer
- tobacco
- vegans
- vegetables
- vegetarians
- women's health
My favorite cancer-specific charity is the American Institute for Cancer Research, shown here lauding the China Study and the documentary Forks Over Knives, with which they share the same bottom-line message. The healthiest diets are those that revolve around whole plant foods. This increased awareness of the importance of plant-based eating is something all of them at AICR welcome.
They then translate that advice into their Ten Recommendations for Cancer Prevention. Do we actually have evidence, though, that those who follow such advice are actually protected against cancer? We do now.
Breast cancer risk was reduced by 60% in women who met at least five recommendations compared with those who met none. The most important dietary advice was be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight, eat mostly foods of plant origin, and limit alcoholic drinks.
What about other cancers? Greater adherence to the AICR dietary guidelines was associated with significantly less breast, endometrial, colorectal, lung, kidney, stomach, oral, liver, and esophageal cancer. In other words, adherence to dietary recommendations for cancer prevention may lower the risk of developing most types of cancer. The drop in bladder cancer did not reach statistical significance here, but a larger follow-up study following 469,000 people for 11 years, the largest to date, found that just a 3% increase in the consumption of animal protein calories was associated with a 15% higher risk of bladder cancer whereas just a 2% increase in plant protein was associated with a 23% lower risk.
AICR recommendation #10 is that cancer survivors should follow the recommendations for cancer prevention. The same diet that can help prevent cancer in the first place can be used to help save your life after diagnosis.
Adherence to the guidelines for cancer prevention was found to be associated with lower mortality among older female cancer survivors, including specifically breast cancer, and other cancers in general.
A cancer diagnosis is considered a teachable moment to get people eating and living healthier. They revel at the growth in the number of cancer survivors in this country, now 10 million strong and growing. It’s great that those with cancer are living longer, but even better to prevent it in the first place so we can all live longer.
Not only does adherence to the guidelines lower cancer risk, but extends lifespan in general, because they’re also significantly associated with a lower hazard of dying from heart disease and respiratory disease, suggesting that following the recommendations could significantly increase longevity as well. What’s good for cancer is also good for your heart, and it’s good for your lungs.
Just like eating to prevent cancer helps to prevent heart disease, eating to protect your heart helps prevent cancer. I know it sounds self-evident, but adherence to a healthy lifestyle has been shown to be associated with a lower risk of mortality. And the more healthy behaviors we have, the longer we get to live. That can mean not smoking, or walking every day, or eating green leafy vegetables at least almost daily.
To help differentiate the effects of diet from other lifestyle behaviors like smoking and drinking on cancer incidence, Adventists were recently compared to Baptists. Both discourage alcohol and tobacco, but the Adventists go further, encouraging a reduction in meat. In general, the Adventists had lower cancer hazard rates than the Baptists, and within Adventist populations, the vegetarians did even better, and those eating the most plants did the best.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- M Loef, H Walach. The combined effects of healthy lifestyle behaviors on all cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Prev Med. 2012 Sep;55(3):163-70.
- CDC. Cancer Survivorship --- United States, 1971—2001. MMWR June 25, 2004/ 53(24); 525-529.
- D Romaguera. A C Vergnaud, P H Peeters, C H van Gils, D S Chan, and more. Is concordance with World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research guidelines for cancer prevention related to subsequent risk of cancer? Results from the EPIC study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Jul;96(1):150-63.
- A C Vergnaud, D Romaguera, PH Peeters, C H Chan and more. Adherence to the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research guidelines and risk of death in Europe: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer cohort study1,4. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 May;97(5):1107-20.
- T A Hastert, S A Beresford, R E Patterson, A R Kristal, E White. Adherence to WCRF/AICR cancer prevention recommendations and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 Sep;22(9):1498-508.
- M Inoue-Choi, K Robien, D Lazovich. Adherence to the WCRF/AICR guidelines for cancer prevention is associated with lower mortality among older female cancer survivors. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 May;22(5):792-802.
- L C Thygesen, N C Hvidt, H P Hansen, A Hoff, L Ross, C Johansen. Cancer incidence among Danish Seventh-day Adventists and Baptists. Cancer Epidemiol. 2012 Dec;36(6):513-8.
- L J Rasmussen-Torvik, C M Shay, J G Abramson, C A Friedrich, J A Nettleton, A E Prizment, A R Folsom. Ideal cardiovascular health is inversely associated with incident cancer: the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities study. Circulation. 2013 Mar 26;127(12):1270-5.
- P A Ganz. A teachable moment for oncologists: cancer survivors, 10 million strong and growing! J Clin Oncol. 2005 Aug 20;23(24):5458-60.
- N E Allen, P N Appleby, T J Key, H B Bueno-de-Mesquita, M M Ros, L A Kiemeney, and more. Macronutrient intake and risk of urothelial cell carcinoma in the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition. Int J Cancer. 2013 Feb 1;132(3):635-44.
- AICR, the China Study, and Forks Over Knives. American Institute of Cancer Research September 25, 2013.
- Y Tantamango-Bartley, K Jaceldo-Siegl, J Fan, G Fraser. Vegetarian diets and the incidence of cancer in a low-risk population. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 Feb;22(2):286-94.
Images thanks to istorywriter via Pixabay.
- Adventist Health Studies
- alcohol
- beverages
- bladder cancer
- breast cancer
- cancer
- cancer survival
- cardiovascular disease
- China Study
- endometrial cancer
- esophageal cancer
- greens
- heart disease
- kidney cancer
- lifespan
- lifestyle medicine
- liver cancer
- longevity
- lung cancer
- mortality
- oral cancer
- plant protein
- Plant-Based Diets
- smoking
- stomach cancer
- tobacco
- vegans
- vegetables
- vegetarians
- women's health
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Title
Which Dietary Factors Affect Breast Cancer Most?
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
Why do plant-based diets appear to lower the risk of cancer? A number of fascinating mechanisms:
- Anti-Angiogenesis: Cutting Off Tumor Supply Lines
- Ex Vivo Cancer Proliferation Bioassay
- Starving Cancer with Methionine Restriction
- Prevent Cancer From Going on TOR
Specific to breast cancer:
- Broccoli vs. Breast Cancer Stem Cells
- Why Do Asian Women Have Less Breast Cancer?
- Flaxseeds & Breast Cancer Prevention
- Breast Cancer vs. Mushrooms
- Preventing Breast Cancer by Any Greens Necessary
- Tree Nuts or Peanuts for Breast Cancer Prevention?
- Estrogenic Cooked Meat Carcinogens
- Fiber vs. Breast Cancer
Though plant-based beverages may be harmful: Breast Cancer and Alcohol: How Much Is Safe?
In terms of foods associated with breast cancer survival, see:
- Breast Cancer Survival Vegetable
- BRCA Breast Cancer Genes and Soy
- Flaxseeds & Breast Cancer Survival: Clinical Evidence
All of my videos on breast cancer can be found on the topic page.
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