Exercising and cutting fat may lower breast cancer risk
Women on a low fat diet in the new study saw a 24 percent reduction in the relative risk of cancer recurrence.
(SPM Wire)
Older women who reduce the amount of fat in their daily diet and increase their weekly exercise may reduce their chances for breast cancer, according to two new studies.

Women with higher levels of physical activity may have a reduced risk of breast cancer after menopause, according to new research from the Mayo Clinic. High physical activity was defined as vigorous activity (such as jogging, swimming or racket sports) two or more times per week or moderate activity (such as bowling, golf, gardening or walking) more than four times per week.

Interestingly, this reduced cancer risk was linked with more than just the weight loss associated with this exercise, but with the exercise itself. Indeed, rigorous exercise has been linked with lower estrogen rates which might be partially responsible for protection against cancer, the researchers suggest.

And postmenopausal women who reduce their consumption of dietary fat and have been treated for early-stage breast cancer may reduce their chances for additional breast cancer, according to results from a new Women's Intervention Nutrition Study (WINS) which was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.

"The relationship between dietary fat and breast cancer has been unclear," said Dr. John E. Niederhuber, Director of the National Cancer Institute. "Certainly there is accumulating evidence that a healthy lifestyle - reduced fat consumption and exercise - is a worthy goal, to decrease risk and to optimize long-term therapy outcome."

WINS was the first large-scale randomized trial to show that a change in diet can improve breast cancer outcomes in women who are receiving conventional treatment for earlystage breast cancer.

The WINS study investigated women who had already been diagnosed with breast cancer and who were willing to enroll in a study to see if lowering fat in their diet would reduce the risk of their cancer recurring.

Earlier in 2006, the Women's Health Initiative, which examined the effect of a low fat diet on breast cancer risk, showed a trend toward a modest benefit of a reduced-fat diet on the incidence of invasive breast cancer.

"In both WHI and WINS studies, it took about four years to detect a reduction in risk so clearly these are not immediate effects," said John Milner, Ph.D., Chief of the Nutritional Science Research Group at the National Cancer Institute. "It is also clear that some women benefit a lot more than others from a reduction in dietary intake of fat, possibly because a person's genetics may well be setting the tone for the benefits of dietary intervention."

For more information about cancer, visit www.cancer.gov, or call the Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4- CANCER (1-800-422- 6237).