Indeed. Jane Plant’s book being a perfect case in point. Publishing a book and that book selling copiously is unfortunately not an endorsement of fact.
The World Cancer Research Fund have recently published an evaluation of research findings linked to diet and look at specific cancers. For breast cancer they state that there is convincing evidence that alcohol is a cause of breast cancer (among others). The report is rather technical but worth looking at if people want the detail on that including the research studies they have drawn their findings from and their results.
I have seen recent research published by a university linking sugar to cancer growth but I didn’t save it and I can’t find it now. It is only one study. I think we need to be as careful about saying there are not links with certain foods as we are about saying that certain foods will prevent/cure cancer. Ongoing research is changing the picture all the time.
As far as refined sugar goes, it has no nutritional value so it would seem to me to be good to avoid it.
Elinda
I had a quick look at the report (long) but their recommendations in summary, can be found here.
wcrf.org/research/expert_report/recommendations.php
Jenny
I was really interested to read the sugar article. A friend’s husband was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour last year and because of the position it’s in they cannot remove it entirely. He’s had rads and they are now trying to shrink what’s left of it with chemo drugs, thankfully at the moment this is working; however, they’ve been told there are no guarantees he will live beyond 2 years as they just can’t predict anything. Unfortunately my friend has become very paranoid about diet and is in danger of developing a real fear about the reports on sugar. I’m going to print this article off to let her read it.
Thanks for posting that link.
Hi, just had a look at the article. I think it will have the effect of making a lot of women feel guilty. The advice about breastfeeding exclusively for 6 months, not all women can physically do this, also I have read countless accounts of women who breastfed, found a lump, were initially told it was mastitis or related to breastfeeding, only to eventually be diagnosed with bc. I breastfed my children but still got bc. I have many friends who didn’t breastfeed their children and they are healthy.
I think it’s fine to suggest a healthy diet, it’s obvious that that’s better for you, but I don’t believe it protects you from bc. What about all the smokers that never get lung cancer, or drinkers that don’t get liver disease? This bc stuff is scary enough, without being scared s****ss that we may be responsible for it because of our food choices, for example. Pat
I breast fed two babies for 8mths and i have BC.I found my lump in pregnancy yet they did not do anything about it till 8mths later as they swore it was hormonal.
I would never have changed anything in terms of feeding my girls but I do feel a bit cheated that research supports breastfeeding in reducing your incidence of BC yet i still have it!
Here’s the problem as I see it - people just don’t understand the concept of risk. They don’t understand the difference between relative and absolute risk. They don’t know how to interpret statistics.
The link between alcohol and cancer is long established and supported by a barrage of expert research. Unlike all this stuff about superfoods which is just speculation laced with a fair amount of twaddle from people like the utterly discredited Gillian McKeith woman.
Alcohol and its involvement with breast cancer is a very good exemplar of risk.
A woman’s risk of developing breast cancer is 11%.
Drinking 2 units of alcohol a day increases risk by 13%. That is 13% of 11% which is 1.4%
So overall lifetime risk of a woman who drinks 2 units of alcohol a day is 11%+1.4% (12.4%) NOT 11%+13% (24%)
The tabloids regularly bash out these stats and the journalists and readers have no real understanding of them.
Eating healthily and maintaining a good weight with ER+ breast cancer is important because it reduces the amount of adipose tissue we carry. The less fat we have the less oestrogen we produce via aromatase.
The breast feeding advice is accurate because the stats speak for themselves. Women who breastfeed for a long time are at reduced risk of developing breast cancer in their lifetime. I have chosen my words very carefully in that sentence - “in their lifetime”. Women are at increased risk of developing bc for 3 years post partum - but OVERALL lifetime risk is reduced by having children.
An increase in risk doesn’t mean you will definitely get it - and a decrease in risk doesn’t mean you definitely won’t - it just means that analysis of data has revealed definite risk factors.
Alcohol is one. Sugar isn’t.
(Evie - I am so sorry to hear about your dx with 2 young ones. My son was 14 months when I was diagnosed. I had to stop breastfeeding early and once my breasts deflated that helped me locate the lump. I think there needs to be a concerted effort to inform GPs etc that not all breast changes during pregnancy are mastitis and that bc should always be considered as a very real possibility.)
Msmolly I am not really cross about breastfeeding and getting cancer!
Its just one of those things and i loved feeding my girls. It was never a chore. I was sad that the day i was told me my diagnosis i had to immediatly stop feeding my lovely girl and formula feed her that evening. I had started to back off luckily but i and her were still sad about it. One of the worst bits of diagnosis.
My mum had become a little obsessed by diet and eating to help stop cancer returning hence me eating flapjacks with flax seed and using flaxseed oil in cooking! Bless her.
Nexty task to loose more weight altho being miserable doesnt help me stick to slimming world !
I absolutely agree with msmolly that people don’t understand the concept of risk…this is all tied up I think with poor general understanding of what scientific evidence is.
There are indeed some established risk factors for getting breast cancer but this is not the same as saying that x risk factor ‘caused’ the cancer.
Some risk factors for breast cancer are backed up by numerous scientific studies…e.g alcohol use, getting older. There are also many scaremongering rumours completly unbacked up. e.g. underwired bras. Then there are factors which many people believe vehemently may cause breast cancer though the evidence is not there or certinly not conclusive: I’d put stress in this category. (I think there have been enough studies to show that stress doesn’t cause breast cancer but many patients believe it does.)
I think its so important that none of us entertain guilty feelings about lifestyle etc. We are not to blame for getting breast cancer.
Jane
I do entirely understand the impetus to adjust diet - it is empowering at a time when you lose almost all control of your life. It is something pro-active. I did it myself when first diagnosed. But as the months passed and I had time to do the research I realised it was (unfortunately) pointless. I had always eaten very well and been vegan and veggy all of my adult life. Clearly diet hadn’t been preventative in the first place - so why should it prevent recurrence now?
I think one of the hardest parts of diagnosis is trying to accept why we were the unlucky ones.
Evie - I can understand your frustration. It is sickening when you feel you have done everything “right” and still you get to be the 1 in 9. Leave the weight loss bit till later - when you are in the thick of treatment it is crucial to eat well when you can.
Hi All, a really interesting thread to read. I too have tried to eat healthily and throughout treatment went into juicing 'big time’as you say msmolly just felt like I was doing something to help my body through such an awful time and i have to say it certainly helped me mentally and my bloods were always ok for chemo which was a plus! i have joined a weight loss class through my Dr, reckon I need to loose a couple of stone…hard going on tamoxifen! Trying to meet friends for a walk instead of coffee, but at weekend do enjoy wine…do you reckon i need to cut that out too? I have 3 boys and really want to do my best to stop this****** disease coming back, but nice to have wine at weekend and relax and the odd choc biscuit, blimey we ladies have been through a lot and certainly deserve the odd treat! This is such a great site, so nice to have the opportunity to ‘chat’ to people in a similar position.
Love
Smiler
x
There is some robust evidence that a low fat diet combined with exercise may lessen the chances of recurence in early stage (Stages 1 and 2) hormone negative breast cancer.Interestingly the same research did not find a benefit for hormone positive bc. (sorry can’t find the research but it is proper I promise.)
I was diagnosed at Stage 3 so always took this information with a giant pinch of salt. I try to eat healthily…combined with chocolate cake and cheese cake. Eating has always been a tremendous social pleasure for me and it continues to be so now my cancer is terminal. Eating good food reminds me I am truly alive.
Jane
How about booze Jane? Do you drink?
I have stopped altogether - for all sorts of reasons - not just bc.
I think alcohol was one risk factor that I could definitely tick on my list.
I embraced the Jane Plant juicing mania when I was first dx but I can’t be faffed washing the juicer, so now I only get fresh juice when I go to wagamama!
I did find that going on the very strict Jane Plant plan, although I don’t believe it has any effect on prevention or prognosis, has had a positive effect on my eating habits - I always did have a fairly healthy diet but now eat much more fruit, veg, nuts and seeds than I used to, and have totally gone off things like deep fried stuff, chips and crisps.
I breastfed my daughter for 18 months and still got BC. I heard last week that to reduce the BC risk you would need to have 5 or 6 babies and breastfeed them all for 18 months each, but they quote the risk reduction thing to encourage women to breastfeed.
I agre with msmolly re alcohol - it is the only risk factor I can think of that I had - I used to drink too much wine, well over the recommended units (There are 10 units in a bottle of wine.) However I’m not strong willed enough to give up altogether - but have drastically cut down and feel much better for it. I do worry when I see women knocking back the booze as if the only health risk is next day’s hangover.
Has anyone read the Genesis prevention diet book? It basically blames most BC on being overweight. It’s very guilt-inducing and I am not even overweight.
There is an article on the American Cancer Society which lists possible risk factors for breast cancer.
cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_2_2X_What_causes_breast_cancer_5.asp
They are all the usual ones we already know about and it doesn’t mention any particular foods to eat, only that obesity is a risk factor, so clearly healthy eating is important. Clearly, all the lifestyle advice linked to reducing the risk of breast cancer is also valid for other life threatening illnesses such as other cancers, diabetes and heart disease. So put another way, whilst eating healthily and giving up the fags and the booze may not necessarily reduce the risk of recurrence with BC, it will help to reduce the risk of other illnesses which unfortunately, even though we have been through BC we are still at risk from.
I do agree with msmolly that the statistics given in the press are usually incorrect or interpreted incorrectly such as the one for alcohol consumption and BC. Although it is a risk, it is modest risk compared to other risks such as age, gender, HRT, not having children etc.
Yup, the biggest risk factor is being female and having boobs.
I think it is intriguing how differently breast cancer behaves in pre and post menopausal women. Cancer Research say that an obese post-menopausal woman is 30% more likely to develop bc than a post menopausal woman of healthy weight - so the risk leaps from 1 in 9 to 1 in 7.
An obese post-menopausal woman produces twice as much oestrogen as one of a healthy weight.
Yet obesity does not increase risk with pre-menopausal women.
Alcohol is believed to stimulate aromatase production which is one reason why I now avoid it. I think recurrence risk is a slightly different issue to the risk of developing the disease for the first time - not much data yet on that.
I have been quite a heavy drinker in my time and certianly accept the evidence that drinking does increase risk (though may not be huge increase).
When I muse on the reasons I got breast cancer I reckon: no childen so no breastfeeding; drinking; possibly an unexplored genetic link…father died of prostate cancer and two female relatives on his side died of brain tumours maybe secondaries bc? I also used a very high oestrogen dose contraceptive pill in late 1960s and 1970s; also had short menstrual cycle (21 days mainly) …but these last two factors may have not mattered as my cancer hormone negative.
I don’t beat myself up about why I got breast cancer. I don’t drink much these days but to stop now would be like shutting the proverbial stable door etc. Champagne has become my drink of choice.
Jane
And a very good choice it is.
For me - a family rife with cancer, possessing an inherited mucked up chromosome which increases propensity for cancer, very high dose oestrogen pill when I was 14 for menstrual problems, lots of booze, nocturnal lifestyle, on and off the pill over the years, a shedload of IVF and pregnancies past the age of 35.
Also a tumour diagnosed as benign 12 years ago I now know to be a phyllodes tumour which was borderline malignant.
Today I would have received radiotherapy, been put on Tamoxifen and been advised to think very carefully about the risk of pregnancy.
Back then I had a 5" lumpectomy under LOCAL anaesthetic and was told to just go away and get a good bra.
Teetotal, (just never aquired the taste of alcohol) have never taken the pill and breast fed for a very long time. Slim (then) and a healthy fit very energetic sporty person. (Not only do I sound incredibly boring but I had stage 4 breast cancer diagnosed in my early 40’s.) For those who enjoy a drink…(I wish I did) …go ahead and enjoy I say.
One of the first things the surgeon said to me at my diagnosis was not to ask myself why I got this, because they would probably never be able to tell me. I honestly don’t see the point in asking myself why, it’s in my life now and I feel I have to try and live my life as best I can. If I didn’t I would probably go mad I think.