Mediterranean-style diet may halve womb cancer risk, study suggests
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Version 0 of 1. A Mediterranean-style diet, already associated with good health and prevention of heart disease or a stroke, could also significantly cut the risk of womb cancer, an Italian study suggests. Researchers who looked at the eating habits of over 5,000 women report that those who adhered most closely to food groups within such a diet lowered their risk of developing the disease by more than half. There were benefits too for those who stuck only slightly less strictly to the diet’s components. The results are reported in the British Journal of Cancer but the charity Cancer Research UK, which owns it, was cautious, partly because the study was based on the women’s memories of what they had eaten. There about 8,500 new cases of womb cancer in the UK each year and rates have increased in the last 20 years. The Italian team broke the Mediterranean diet down into nine elements – lots of vegetables, fruits and nuts, pulses, cereals and potatoes, fish, and monounsaturated fats; little meat and milk or other dairy products; and only moderate alcohol. Those women who followed between seven and nine of the diet’s elements lowered their risk of womb cancer by 57%, whereas those who stuck to six had a risk reduction of 46% and those on five 34%. There was no significant benefit for women whose food consumption included fewer components, a finding the researchers suggest supports the hypothesis that the diet as a whole is a stronger factor in reducing womb cancer risk than any single element within it. Cristina Bosetti, of the IRCCS-Instituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri in Milan, who was lead author of the study, said: “Our research shows the impact a healthy balanced diet could have on a woman’s risk of developing womb cancer. “This adds more weight to our understanding of how our everyday choices, like what we eat and how active we are, affects our risk of cancer.” Julie Sharp, head of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: “While we know that getting older and being overweight both increase a woman’s risk of womb cancer, the idea that a Mediterranean diet could help reduce the risk needs more research. “This is partly because the study was based on people remembering what they had eaten in the past”, Sharp said. “Cancer risk is affected by our age and our genes but a healthy lifestyle can also play a part in reducing the risk of some cancers. “Not smoking, keeping a healthy weight, being active, eating healthily and cutting down on alcohol helps to stack the odds in your favour.” The study suggests a greater effect of a Mediterranean diet on womb cancer risk than previous reports . These included research from 2007 based on data from white, African-American and Latina women living in the San Francisco Bay area in California and another US study the same year looking at how dietary modifications might affect risk for a number of cancers. However, the new report’s authors point out that “in Italy consumption of the various components of the Mediterranean diet is traditionally higher than in other countries.” |