Eating peanut butter during teenage years lowers breast cancer risk

Comment

A study published in September 2013 in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment looked at young women’s healthy eating and exercise routines and found that eating peanut butter had a protective effect on breast tissue and therefore preventing the developing of breast cancer in later years. The study looked at the lifestyle habits of 9,000 young girls in their pre-teen and teenage years for a period of 14 years.

Peanut butter protects the breast from benign lesions which are linked to developing breast cancer risk. The protective effect is particularly visible during teenage years with an average consumption of three servings a week for maximum results (39% reduction in breast cancer risk). A daily serving of peanut butter was linked to a 68% reduction of benign breast cancer risk. Benign breast cancer is defined as the non-cancerous stage of changes in the breast tissue which is linked with an increase of developing the risk of malignant breast cancer by three times.

Pre-teen and teenage girls are advised to seek protein from non-meat sources like beans, peanuts and pulses to lower breast cancer risk in later life.

The participants in the breast cancer study had biopsies taken in their breast tissue to analyse any changes that could be cancerous.

Asian women have a lower rate of breast cancer compared to Western women because they consume more vegetable protein from soya and beans.

The main recommendation from the breast cancer study is that young girls should replace junk and unhealthy food and snacks with vegetable protein food like peanut butter and unsalted nuts.

Source: http://news.health.com/2013/09/27/can-eating-peanut-butter-cut-breast-cancer-risk-in-later-life/

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/type/breast-cancer/about/diet-and-breast-cancer