A new U.S study suggests that a diet rich in fibre could lower the risk of developing breast cancer later on in life, Fox News suggests.
The study was published the journal Pediatrics.
"Most of the studies that evaluated association between dietary fiber intake in midlife or later, have not noted any significant association," said lead author Maryam Farvid of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
"Therefore, it seems high-fiber diet in early life would be important in terms of breast cancer prevention."
For the study, the researchers studied data on more than 44,000 women participating in a long-term study.
The researchers used data from the Nurses' Health Study II, which included more than 90,000 premenopausal women, when they were 27 to 44 years old.
In 1999, 44,263 of them also completed a questionnaire about their diets when they were in high school.
The researchers found that those who ate the most fiber during high school and early adulthood were about 20 percent less likely to develop breast cancer by middle age, as compared to women who ate the least fiber in their youth.
"Our findings show that each additional 10 grams per day increase in fiber intake during adolescence reduces risk of breast cancer by 14 percent," and getting the recommended 25 to 30 grams per day would decrease breast cancer risk by 30 percent, Farvid said.
"Twenty-six grams of fiber a day is not that much," and that amount was tied to a significant decrease in breast cancer risk, said Dr. Kimberly L. Blackwell of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, who coauthored a commentary on the new results.
"I'm a breast cancer doctor and this is a very important finding," Blackwell told Reuters Health. "I'm asked by breast cancer survivors about what they can do to lower their kids' risk," and there hasn't been much to offer in response in the past, she said. "It will change what I tell my patients."
Researchers said that the intake of a diet rich in fibre improves the circulating hormone levels, and hormone levels during the adolescent period of breast development may have an impact on later breast cancer risk.
Women who get more fiber as young adults also tend to carry healthy eating habits into later life, she noted.
