Women who eat a Mediterranean diet can slash their risk of womb cancer by more than half, a study shows.
More than 8,500 women are diagnosed with womb cancer every year in the UK. Rates have increased by around half since the early 1990s.
Italian researchers analysed the diets of 5,000 women to see how closely they stuck to the diet and whether they went on to develop womb cancer.
The diet includes eating lots of vegetables, fruits and nuts, pulses, cereals and potatoes, fish, monounsaturated fats but little meat, milk and other dairy products and moderate alcohol intake.
Researchers found that women who stuck to the Mediterranean diet the closest by eating between seven and nine of the beneficial food groups lowered their risk of womb cancer by more than half - 57%.
Those who kept to six elements of the diet’s components cut their risk by 46%, while those who stuck to five reduced their risk by 34%.
But women whose diet included fewer than five of the components did not lower their risk of womb cancer significantly, according to the study published today in the British Journal of Cancer.
Dr Cristina Bosetti, lead author from the IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche, said: “Our research shows the impact a healthy balanced diet could have on a woman’s risk of developing womb cancer.
“This adds more weight to our understanding of how our every day choices, like what we eat and how active we are, affect our risk of cancer.”
The study was funded by the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss League Against Cancer.
The Mediterranean diet has previously been linked with improved cardiovascular health and overall mortality.
The numerous benefits to health of a diet including high quantities of fruit, vegetables, nuts, oils and fish with lower levels of saturated fats, meat and dairy are well known.
This research adds to the increasing evidence that such a Mediterranean pattern or style of diet can reduce the risk of cancer. But future studies will need to provide more evidence before this is conclusive.
Dr Julie Sharp, Cancer Research UK’s head of health information, said: “While we know that getting older and being overweight both increase a woman’s risk of womb cancer, the idea that a Mediterranean diet could help reduce the risk needs more research.
“This is partly because this study was based on people remembering what they had eaten in the past.
“Cancer risk is affected by our age and our genes but a healthy lifestyle can also play a part in reducing the risk of some cancers. Not smoking, keeping a healthy weight, being active, eating healthily and cutting down on alcohol helps to stack the odds in your favour."
By: Andrew Gregory
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