Eating Walnuts Linked to Reduction in Breast Cancer Risk

A diet including walnuts may help women drastically reduce their risk of breast cancer, new medical research has found.

Researchers from Marshall University School of Medicine in West Virginia say they have found that eating the equivalent of a handful of walnuts every day dramatically reduced the risk of breast cancer in laboratory rats. It is believed that humans would similarly benefit from the antioxidants, phytosterols, and omega-3 fatty acids found in walnuts.

Mice specially bred to develop breast cancer were used in the research. For the study, half of the mice were given the human equivalent of two ounces of walnuts per day, while the other half received a normal diet not including the daily dose of walnuts.

Smaller, Fewer and Later Tumors Noted

Researchers found that the mice fed walnuts had fewer and smaller breast cancer tumors that appeared later in life than the mice not fed the walnuts. The mice are engineered to develop cancerous tumors after five months, but by eating walnuts, researchers were able to delay the appearance of tumors by three weeks.

The study’s findings were presented this week at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting.

More Evidence in Support of Omega 3s

The new research is further evidence of the importance of including Omega-3 fatty acids in a diet to achieve a range of health benefits and combat a wide variety of diseases. Omega-3s have been shown to reduce risks of heart disease and cancer.

While scientists have been divided over whether Omega 3s found in nuts and green, leafy vegetables pack the same beneficial punch as those found in fish oil, the research seems to indicate that they do.

Breast Cancer: A Leading Killer of U.S. Women

Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer among women and the leading cause of death among Hispanic women in the United States. Only non-melanoma skin cancers are more common among women than breast cancer.

Each year, about 180,000 women and 1,700 men are diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S., while about 42,000 women and 400 men die from the disease.

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