Increased Vegetables and Fruits

Increased Vegetables and Fruits in Foods and Breast Cancer Survival - How Foods Fight Cancer

Some evidence suggests that women whose diets are richer in vegetables
and fruits tend to survive longer.2,18 In a study of 103 women in Australia,
who were followed for six years after they were diagnosed with breast cancer,
those who consumed the most fruits and vegetables rich in beta-carotene or
vitamin C had the best chance for survival. The researchers divided the
group into thirds based on how much beta-carotene they got each day in
the foods they chose. It turned out that in the group getting the least betacarotene,
there were twelve deaths over the next six years. In the middle
group, there were eight deaths; and in the high-beta-carotene group, there
was only one death.19

In the digestive tract, beta-carotene is converted to vitamin A. In turn,
vitamin A is converted to a compound called retinoic acid, which has a
demonstrable anticancer effect on cells in test-tube studies.16 A Swedish
study found much the same thing: Among women with breast cancer, those
consuming more vitamin A were more likely to have estrogen receptor-rich
tumors, a good prognostic sign.17

The Australian researchers also analyzed their data in another way,
looking simply at how much fruit of any kind the women had been eating,
including both beta-carotene-rich fruits and other varieties, such as apples,
bananas, berries, grapes, and dried fruits. The same sort of pattern
emerged. In the group eating the least fruit, there were twelve deaths; in the
middle group, there were six deaths; and in the group consuming the most
fruit, there were only three deaths.19

Similarly, a study of Canadian women with breast cancer found that
those getting the most beta-carotene and vitamin C had significantly better
survival odds.9 The benefit was dose related, meaning the more of these
helpful nutrients they got, the better they did. Those who got more than 5
milligrams of beta-carotene per day had double the likelihood of survival
compared to women who got less than 2 milligrams. To understand what
this means on your plate, there are about 5 milligrams of beta-carotene in
half a medium carrot or one-fourth cup of cooked sweet potato.

For vitamin C, those getting more than 200 milligrams each day had
roughly double the survival odds compared to those getting less than 100
milligrams per day. In practical terms, an orange has about 60 milligrams
of vitamin C, and a one-cup serving of broccoli or other green vegetables
has about 80.9

Vitamin E may have the opposite effect. In one study, women with
breast cancer consuming larger amounts of vitamin E had poorer survival.
Every one-milligram increase in daily vitamin E intake was associated with
approximately a 15–20 percent increased risk of treatment failure.8