Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net and Grant Cochrane

Raw Vegetables Diet Shown to Protect Against HER 2 Positive Cancers

I’m always on the lookout for good nutritional information for my readers with breast cancer, particularly for those in the HER 2 positive category because they are typically given such a dismal prognosis.  Today I’ve come across an interesting study done in Italy clear back in 2007.

The Italian Research Study

The Italian researchers hypothesized that various dietary factors associated with breast cancer risk might differentially influence the HER-2 status of the cancers that develop.  They followed 8,861 volunteer women and observed that four dietary patterns developed among these Italian women:

1. Salad Vegetables, which was a high consumption of raw vegetables and olive oil;
2. Prudent (interesting name, don’t you think?) which was mainly cooked vegetables, poultry and fish;
3. Western, which was meat, potatoes, eggs and butter;
4. Canteen, which was pasta, tomato sauce, wine

The researchers observed that the first diet, comprising mainly raw salad vegetables and olive oil, exhibited a protective effect against HER-2-positive cancers (Sant M, Allemani C, Sieri S, Krogh V, Menard S, Tagliabue E, et al. Salad vegetables dietary pattern protects against HER-2-positive breast cancer: a prospective Italian study. Int J Cancer. 2007;121(4):911-914).  Here’s a link to the study abstract.

The UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco, California) has also published a lengthy report titled Nutrition & Breast Cancer and they cite this same study in their report.  UCSF further advises “A lifelong commitment to a plant based diet may lower a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer and may also reduce the risk of recurrent breast cancer.  A plant based diet consists primarily of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans/legumes, and other plant protein sources.”

Besides all of this data, you just plain FEEL BETTER when you eat this way.  That’s your body telling you what it needs!

See my page “Diet and Cancer” for more information on exactly which vegetables and fruits confer the most protective effects.

If you would like my help with getting through breast cancer in an inspiring and ultra-healthy way, please sign up for my free e-newsletters on the right, or “like” me on Facebook (MarnieClark.com).  It is my honor to help you through this.