A study conducted over 20 years has indicated the top five fruit and vegetables that could potentially ward off breast cancer.
The research was carried out at the Harvard School of Public Health in the U.S. and tracked 90,000 women aged 27 to 44 who enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study and focused on their diets as teenagers from the ages of 13 to 18. The women were tested for breast cancer every two years and the researchers found five foods in particular that contributed to lowering the risk of developing breast cancer in women. These were apples, bananas, grapes, oranges and kale.
The amount was also important with three daily servings of these fruits linking to a 25 percent drop in risk by middle age, compared with consuming just a half-serving per day.
The team involved in the study believe that the results show that increasing the amount of these foods in women’s diets could potentially slash the number of breast cancer sufferers.
“If this apparent risk reduction is applied to a lifetime risk of breast cancer, the absolute number of breast cancers that could potentially be prevented by higher intake of fruits would be substantial.”
Although still unknown how these fruit and vegetables influence breast cancer, it clearly shows that what we eat as teenagers greatly effects our health in later life. However, everyone would benefit from a greater increase in fruit and vegetables in their diet to help counteract diseases.
Experts say that although the findings are positive, more evidence through further study is needed. Catherine Priestley, of Breast Cancer Care stated that, “a link between eating specific fruits during teenage years to help lower breast cancer risk is a long way from being fact.”
The findings were published in the British Medical Journal.