Reducing the Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence

There is a growing body of evidence that diet plays a significant role in helping prevent a recurrence of breast cancer.  For example, fat intake has been linked to recurrence and shortened survival rates in cancer patients.  We also know that reducing the amount of fat you eat can have the opposite effect.  In the Women’s Intervention Nutrition Study, which looked at 2,437 postmenopausal breast cancer patients, when fat intake in their diets was reduced to 20 percent or less, risk of recurrence was cut by an impressive 24 percent.  Among women who had low or no estrogen receptors (referred to as estrogen negative), the low-fat diet was even more effective.  This group showed a 42% reduction in breast cancer recurrence.

In recent years, researchers found that women with early stage breast cancer who had the highest insulin levels were twice as likely to have their tumor metastasize, and three times as likely to die of breast cancer, as women whose insulin levels were the lowest.  Choosing a whole foods diet and staying fit can reduce the deleterious effect that elevated sugar and insulin levels can have on the risk of recurrence.  At the Block Center, we strongly advise that any patient combating breast cancer, trying to avoid a recurrence, or with a needed preventive focus due to a high risk, have their doctor routinely monitor their insulin and blood sugar levels, as well as their insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1).

We believe that careful, long term monitoring is necessary to individualize therapeutic interventions for each patient.  There are dietary strategies, however, that are appropriate for all of our patients, the exception being those with a marked wasting syndrome or anorexic condition. These include:

• Eat a diet lower in fat, ideally no more than 18% of your daily caloric intake.  Choose foods high in “good” fats – monounsaturated and omega-3 fats – from walnuts, flaxseed oil, and cold-water fish such as salmon; and omega-9 fatty acids that you can find in olives, olive oil, almonds and avocados.  Though these contain healthier fats, they should all be consumed in limited quantities due to their relatively high fat content.
• Eat cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, bok choy, and brussel sprouts – which contain plant phytochemicals that can bind and lower blood estrogen levels while increasing the estrogen detoxification capacity of the liver.
• Eat a diet high in fiber, eat whole cereal grains—particularly those with soluble fiber such as oats and barley—beans and legumes, and fruits and vegetables.  Cracked flax, in addition to adding healthy fiber, contains lignans, which have been shown to provide protection for women at risk for breast cancer.  These fiber-rich foods help you feel full longer, and don’t cause the sudden rise in blood sugar levels that can occur when consuming refined carbohydrates.
• Reduce or, better still, eliminate red meat and poultry.  Instead, use plant-based sources of protein such as lentils, chickpeas, tofu, tempeh, veggie burgers, and wheat-gluten products such as seitan.

This nutritional strategy is intended to help curtail inflammation, reduce free-radical damage, minimize platelet activation (which can lead to dangerous blood clotting), manage blood sugar surges, and reduce serum levels of insulin-like growth factor 1, or IGF-1.  However, ideally a nutrition plan, along with whole plant supplements, should be individualized to your unique laboratory-tested needs.