A paper published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that the closer you follow the WCRF/AICR Cancer Prevention Recommendations, the lower the risk of breast cancer.
The paper reports the findings of the latest review (led by researchers from IdISBa and CIBEROBN) from World Cancer Research Fund International’s Global Cancer Update Programme (CUP Global).
The review examined 27 different dietary and lifestyle patterns. Some patterns specifically focused on cancer prevention, while others were more general and looked at a healthy diet or lifestyle. Some culturally defined patterns, such as a Mediterranean dietary pattern, were also examined.
The patterns examined include:
- WCRF/AICR score – this is a measure of how closely people followed our World Cancer Research Fund Cancer/American Institute for Cancer Research Cancer Prevention Recommendations
- American Cancer Society (ACS) score
- Low-fat diet
- Mediterranean dietary pattern
- Western dietary pattern
The researchers included 84 studies in the review. This evidence was judged by an independent panel of CUP Global. They used predefined criteria to judge how likely each pattern is to be a cause of breast cancer.
Only 2 dietary and lifestyle patterns – the WCRF/AICR score and the ACS score – had strong evidence for reducing breast cancer risk.
There was “strong-probable” evidence that WCRF/AICR and ACS dietary and lifestyle scores reduce breast cancer risk in all females, and in postmenopausal females.
In premenopausal females, the evidence was weaker, contributing to a “limited-suggestive” grade.
There was some evidence that other patterns may protect against breast cancer, and following a “Western” dietary pattern may increase the risk of breast cancer. But this evidence was judged as only “limited-suggestive”.
Evidence that the other patterns examined influence the risk of breast cancer was very limited.
Our senior scientist, Dr Helen Croker, explained the findings. She said:
In this paper we looked at the impact on breast cancer risk from an overall pattern of a healthy diet, physical activity and maintenance of a healthy weight. By doing this we were able to make a clearer assessment of the complexity of various dietary and lifestyle patterns and associated breast cancer risk.
Q and A with Dr Croker
Why are you excited about this report?
What’s particularly interesting in this study is that it has allowed us to look at how we can reduce breast cancer risk in a new way. Until now, most studies have looked at intakes of single nutrients and food groups, such as fruit and vegetables, soy foods, dietary fibre, meat, saturated fat and alcohol.
While it has been informative to look at how individual foods and nutrients affect cancer risk, people don’t actually eat and drink in this way. Considering people’s whole pattern of eating, drinking and physical activity is key to understanding their cancer risk.
This work provides confirmation that following our Cancer Prevention Recommendations as a package is effective at reducing cancer risk, and here we see this clearly for breast cancer risk.
What’s your advice for women wanting to reduce their risk of breast cancer?
We understand that it can be hard to follow all parts of our Cancer Prevention Recommendations, but any small moves people make can bring benefits. However, following all our Recommendations as a whole package will bring the most benefit:
- Try to stay a healthy weight
- Do plenty of physical activity
- Avoid alcohol and smoking
- Eat a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, wholegrains and cereals
- Avoid red and processed meat
