Women who regularly follow a mediterranean type diet, have a lower risk of developing breast cancer, according to a new scientific study, from Holland.
Previous studies have shown the benefits of the mediterranean diet, for the heart and to circulatory system to avoid strokes, but this new study is investigating a wider range of potential health benefits.
The research team, with leader Professor Peter van den Brad from the Department of Epidemiology, of the University of Maastricht, have published their findings regarding cancer, in “The International Journal of Cancer”, according to a recent report in the British newspaper,The Guardian.
They based their findings on the results of following a group of 62,573 women between the ages of 55 and 69, over a twenty year period and of whom, 3,354 died from breast cancer.
The study linked the type of diet with the risk of death. It was found that a mediterranean diet could reduce by 40% the risk of the appearance of breast cancer, negative for estrogen receptors. It is one of the most dangerous types of breast cancer in women, after the menopause and cannot be cured with hormone therapies.
The research showed that the risk is reduced even more when the mediterranean diet includes plenty of dried nuts. It was estimated that if all women followed this type of diet, 2.3% of all breast cancer cases could be avoided and almost one third (32.4%) of all non-hormone sensitive breast cancers.
Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women. One smaller study last year, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, had reached the conclusion that the mediterranean diet also reduces the risk of reappearance of breast cancer, which had previously been cured.