Could eating your greens be a lifesaver? Study finds breast cancer sufferers who consume veg are more likely to survive

Women diagnosed with breast cancer are more likely to survive if they eat up their greens, research suggests.

A large Chinese study found a link between higher consumption of cruciferous vegetables such as greens, cabbage and broccoli, and reduced breast cancer death rates.

Researchers followed the progress of almost 5,000 women for around five years after they were diagnosed with breast cancer.

Lifesaver? A Chinese study has found that breast cancer sufferers who eat green vegetables including cabbage are more likely to survive

They found that the more cruciferous vegetables women ate during the first three years after diagnosis, the less likely they were to die.

As consumption increased, the chances of dying from breast cancer fell by between 22 per cent and 62 per cent and from all causes by between 27 per cent and 62 per cent.

Breast cancer recurrence risk also decreased, by between 21 per cent and 35 per cent

During the study period, a total of 587 women died, 496 from breast cancer. Researchers recorded 615 cases of recurrence.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Chicago, US.

 

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The researchers pointed out that cruciferous vegetable consumption habits differed between China and the West.

'Commonly consumed cruciferous vegetables in China include turnips, Chinese cabbage/bok choy and greens, while broccoli and brussels sprouts are the more commonly consumed cruciferous vegetables in the United States and other Western countries,' said study leader Dr Sara Nechuta, from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, US.

'Second, the amount of intake among Chinese women is much higher than that of US women. The level of bioactive compounds such as isothiocyanates and indoles, proposed to play a role in the anti-cancer effects of cruciferous vegetables, depend on both the amount and type of cruciferous vegetables consumed.'

Dr Nechuta said future studies of the effects of cruciferous vegetables on breast cancer should make direct measurements of levels of bioactive compounds.

The women were participants in the Shanghai Breast Cancer Survival Study, an investigation of Chinese breast cancer survivors diagnosed with different grades of tumour between 2002 and 2006.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2124788/Can-green-vegetables-beat-breast-cancer.html#ixzz1r6320sIg