Could the Mediterranean Diet Decrease Breast Cancer Risk?

A Mediterranean diet rich in extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) could decrease the risk of invasive breast cancer by as much as 68%, according to a recent study.

Previous research has suggested that the Mediterranean diet could decrease the risk of onset on breast cancer, the leading cause of female cancer burden.

To examine this relationship, researchers evaluated 4152 women (ages 60 to 80 years) who were high risk for cardiovascular disease but exhibited no prior history of breast cancer at baseline.
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The participants were randomly assigned to a Mediterranean diet supplemented with EVOO, a Mediterranean diet with mixed nuts, or a control diet with reduced fat guidance.

After a median 4.8-year follow-up, researchers found 35 incident cases of breast cancer among participants.

Observed rates per 1000 person-years were 1.1 for those assigned to the Mediterranean diet with extra-virgin olive oil (a 68% reduced risk compared with controls), 1.8 for the group with the Mediterranean diet with nuts (a 48% reduced risk compared with controls), and 2.9 for the control group.

“Our results suggest a beneficial effect of a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil in the primary prevention of breast cancer,” they concluded.  

“These results come from a secondary analysis of a previous trial and are based on few incident cases and, therefore, need to be confirmed in longer-term and larger studies.”

-Michelle Canales

Reference:

Toledo E, Salas-Salvado J, Donat-Vargas C, et al. Mediterranean diet and invasive breast cancer risk among women at high cardiovascular risk in the PREDIMED Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2015 September [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.4838.