Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer among women. Approximately 261,000 American women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, but more than 2.5 million American women are breast cancer survivors, reports the American Cancer Society. Eating a healthy diet may give you the nutritional support you need to fight breast cancer.
Eating During Treatment
If you're currently undergoing breast cancer treatment such as chemotherapy or radiation, your treatment may cause side effects like nausea and appetite loss that can interfere with your ability to eat well, cautions the National Cancer Institute, which recommends talking with your doctors or nurses about how to deal with treatment side effects so you can still eat nutritiously. Planning meals and snacks in advance and stocking up on healthy foods you can eat even when you feel sick can help you eat a nutritious diet during treatment.
Fruits
Fruits are rich in antioxidants, which fight substances called free radicals that can damage cells in your body. The antioxidants fruits contain protect your breast tissue from damage and may help prevent breast cancer from recurring, according to the American Cancer Society. Eat at least five daily servings of fruits. Analysis of a 2008 clinical trial at the University of California at San Diego showed that when breast cancer survivors ate a diet rich in fruits, their risk of suffering a recurrence decreased by about 31 percent.
Vegetables
Vegetables are also valuable sources of antioxidants that may help you combat breast cancer, reports the American Cancer Society. ACS recommends eating at least five servings of vegetables per day. Breast cancer survivors whose risk of recurrence dropped by 31 percent after eating lots of fruit also included plenty of vegetables in their diet, so both fruits and vegetables may have been responsible for the lower recurrence risk, UC San Diego reports.
Fish
Eating cold-water fish like salmon, halibut, and tuna can help you fight breast cancer, because those fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids may prevent your tumors from growing and stop cancer from spreading, reports the American Cancer Society. Eating two or more servings of fatty fish per week may help promote breast health. While no specific dosage of fish oil has proved effective at fighting cancer, you can likely consume up to 3 g of fish oil per day safely, the National Institutes of Health says. Higher doses, however, may impair your blood's ability to clot.
References
- American Cancer Society; Diet and Breast Cancer Risk: What's the Connection?; Rebecca V. Snowden; Sept. 2010
- American Cancer Society: Omega-3 Fatty Acids
- American Cancer Society: How Many Women Get Breast Cancer?
- National Cancer Institute: Eating Hints: Before, During, and After Cancer Treatment
- UC San Diego; A Diet High in Vegetables, Fruit and Fiber May Cut Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence in Women without Hot Flashes; Steve Benowitz; Dec. 15, 2008
- MedlinePlus: Fish Oil
