How to Eat Healthy to Help Prevent Breast Cancer

Breast cancer prevention factors into most of Sasha Brown's eating decisions. The 30-year-old mother of two from Somerville, Massachusetts, lost her mother to breast cancer when she was a child, so keeping up with current research and tailoring her lifestyle to match the latest medical recommendations on breast cancer prevention is part of her effort to stay cancer-free.

"I try to stay away from red meat, I drink a lot of green tea, and I eat a fairly low-fat, high-fiber diet," says Brown, who is also an avid runner. For Brown, focusing on her health is as much about her family as it is about her. "My mom died when she was 45 and my sister and I were just children. I definitely feel a responsibility to my very young kids to stay alive and healthy."

Understanding Research on Breast Cancer Prevention

Much of what Brown is doing to try and stave off breast cancer is supported by research, says Everyday Health cancer expert Martee L. Hensley, MD. "In general, the things that seem to be protective are lower consumption of alcohol, lower body weight, and eating a healthy diet," says Dr. Hensley, who is an associate attending physician in gynecologic medical oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. "It's not as simple as saying that one food is going to be the single thing to prevent breast cancer."

One reason it can be difficult to pin down foods that may help or hurt is because of the way the research is conducted, Hensley says. She explains that in most of these studies, researchers talk to a large number of people — including some who have cancer and some who do not. Study participants are asked about their diet and lifestyle, and researchers then attempt to make connections based on the answers. "The best you can do is try to draw an association between the questions you asked and the outcome," she says. "But you just can't know how those associations might be confounded by things you didn't ask about."

Nonetheless, scientists now believe that there are some foods that seem to be correlated with a higher incidence of breast cancer and, conversely, there are others that may have protective properties against breast cancer.

Breast Cancer Prevention: Foods to Avoid

"The number-one thing to start with when trying to prevent any cancer is eating a good, healthy diet," says Lynne Eldridge, MD, author of Avoiding Cancer One Day at a Time (Beaver's Pond Press, 2006). And by healthy diet, Dr. Eldridge says she does not mean the usual American fare that is full of processed foods and red meats and low in fresh fruits and vegetables. "A study came out last year showing that if Chinese women go from their vegetable- and soy-based diet to our Western diet, their risk for breast cancer goes up 60 percent," she notes.

Foods that may be directly correlated with a higher incidence of breast cancer and other cancers include: