Lower Breast Cancer Risk by Eating Healthy

To mark National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Skin Inc. magazine is providing these tips to help you reduce your risk of the disease.

If you are overweight, losing excess pounds may reduce your risk of breast cancer. Extra fat tissue produces an excess of estrogen, which can stimulate the growth of breast cells--both normal and abnormal.

And according to Gregory Senofsky, MD, FACS, FSSO, surgical director of The Breast Cancer Institute and author of The Patient's Guide to Outstanding Breast Cancer Care (Perigree Trade, 2002), there are several things you can do to minimize your risk and increase your chances of combating the disease. "Nutrition can play a role in breast cancer prevention. Eating a relatively low-fat diet and avoiding excessive alcohol consumption is probably helpful. Food high in antioxidants are as good in preventing breast cancer as they are in preventing other cancers," he says.

Here are a few more suggestions:

--Fish, particularly those high in omega-3 fatty acids like salmon, sardines and herring, are said to have cancer fighting properties.

--Red grapes contain powerful cancer-preventing antioxidants called bioflavonoids. They are also a rich source of resveratrol, which has been proven to inhibit the enzymes that can stimulate cancer-cell growth, and ellagic acid, a compound that blocks the enzymes that promote the growth of cancer cells.

--Broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower are filled with indole-3-carbinol, a chemical that combats breast cancer by altering cancer-promoting estrogen cells into healthy cells.

--Grapefruit contains monoterpenes, which is believed to help wash carcinogens out of the body and inhibit the production of breast-cancer cells in vitro.

Healing Lifestyles & Spas, October 8, 2008

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