Vit.amin C lowers blo.od pr.essure

Monday October 13, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- In the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we will publish a series of reports on the disease and its prevention to raise readers' awareness of the fact that breast cancer is a preventable disease.   But we will not cover much about donations or screenings.

One study recently published in the International Journal of Cancer once again reminds us that lifestyle parameters significantly affect the prognosis of breast cancer.

The study led by Bidoli E and colleagues at Centro Riferimento Oncologico in Aviano, Italy showed that obesity can be one of the most significant lifestyle risk factor for prognosis of breast cancer.

For the study, Bidoli and team followed 1,453 women with incident invasive breast cancer diagnosed between 1991 and 1994.  Subjects were surveyed to evaluate the effect of obesity and other risk factors on breast cancer mortality.   During the follow-up, 503 women died with 398 from breast cancer.

The researchers found obese women with body mass index equal to or higher than 30 kg/m(2) were 38 percent more likely to die from all causes than those who had a BMI equal to or less than 25 kg/m(2).

Women with the waist-to-hip ratio equal to or more than 0.85 were 27 percent more likely to die than those with lower WTH (=<0.80), the study showed.

Women who had both higher BMI >/=30 and high WHR (>/=0.85) were facing an even greater risk of dying from all causes compared to women with BMI <25 and WHR < 0.85. The risk was increased by 57 percent.   The association was more significant among women with I-II stage than III-IV stage breast cancer.

The study also found that women who ate less fruit and vegetables were at higher risk of dying from all causes.

However, the researchers found no significant relationship with survival of the breast cancer patients for several other major lifestyle factors including physical activity, alcohol drinking, exogenous hormones use and fat intake. This finding was inconsistent with many early studies.

Many epidemiological studies have already associated breast cancer risk with many lifestyle factors.   One study led by Schulz M and colleagues from German Institute of Human Nutrition in Germany found high fat diet was linked to increased risk of breast cancer. The study appears in the Nov. 2008 issue of British Journal of Nutrition.

In the United States, 185,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 45,000 die from the disease each year. In this country, one in every eight women will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime.  

Many dietary factors and lifestyle parameters have been found associated with breast cancer risk.   In the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we'd remind everyone that breast cancer is essentially a preventable disease and most can avoid the disease simply by following a healthy lifestyle including a healthy diet.

Forget about donations as the federal government invests about $20 billion each year in cancer research and you have already paid your share.   The problem is, few dollars are used to study cancer prevention. Much of the investment goes to drug research and in the end drug companies are the biggest beneficiaries.