Fad Foods and Breast Cancer
Posted 8/15/2011
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This is an excellent article from Komen about translating media reports and headlines that present nutrition/diet information about cancer. The very bottom line is that, as far as we know, there is not a particular diet or foods that either prevent cancer or minimize recurrence risks. Here is the beginning and then a link:
Fad foods and breast cancer—How to read the headlines (July 2011)
It's not hard to find media stories promoting the cancer-fighting benefits of one food or another. What can be hard is knowing whether today's headlines are fact, fiction or something in between. The three tips below may help you make better sense of the headlines.
1. Studies done in the laboratory don't always translate to people Cell studies
Studies on the possible links between diet and cancer often start with studying cells in a laboratory. However, findings from cell studies cannot be directly translated to people. Cell studies can give insight into how certain nutrients or food compounds might work in the body to affect cancer cells. In this way, they provide clues to factors that might affect breast cancer risk, but they are a very early step in the research process. Animal studies
If the results from cell studies are promising, research may progress to animal studies (often done in mice). Animal studies can build on findings from cell studies and add to our understanding of how and why some factors might affect breast cancer risk in people. However, animal studies do not replace human studies, nor can we expect the results to be the same in people. There are many differences between animals and people that make it hard to translate findings directly from one to the other. For example, some nutrients can work completely differently in animals than in people.
Animal studies are also designed differently than human studies. They often look at exposures in larger doses and for shorter time periods than would be used in people. Thus, we need human studies to decide whether something helps prevent or treat cancer in people, as well as what doses are considered to be safe.
http://ww5.komen.org/Content.aspx?id=19327353118
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