Prenatal, Childhood Diets – Most Important Role in Breast Cancer Risk??
More and more evidence is suggesting that many of today’s adult diseases actually begin decades earlier as children. This article suggests that the timing of exposure to estrogen is very important for breast cancer development, and exposure as an adolescent protects against breast cancer. This strongly supports the use of soy products in this age group to increase phytoestrogen exposure. It is so incredibly important to start focusing on the health of our younger generation. Children are becoming increasingly obese with nutrient deficient diets, and this portends very, very poorly for our society’s life expectancy.
At the 10th Annual research Conference of the American Institute for Cancer research (AICR), a leading cancer scientist outlined the increasing evidence that fetal and childhood diets may have a greater impact on lifetime breast cancer risk than diets during adulthood. Dr. Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, of the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University, described her own work and summarized ongoing research efforts around the world. “At certain stages of a woman’s life, particularly in the womb and after menopause, diets that induce high estrogen levels do indeed seem to increase her risk of getting breast cancer. During reproductive years, however, high estrogen levels show no effect at all,” said Dr. Hilakivi-Clarke. She added that incoming laboratory and human studies now suggest that at still another time — childhood — high estrogen levels seem to play a powerful protective role against breast cancer. She reviewed the results of human trials that have linked certain traits associated with high estrogen levels during childhood (ie, high body mass, high-fat diets) to lowered breast cancer risk. Evidence that healthy diets high fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans offer overall cancer protection is “convincing and compelling,” according the AICR report Food, nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective. In fact, AICR estimates that following such a diet, maintaining a healthy weight and getting regular exercise could bring about an astonishing 30 to 40 percent drop in worldwide cancer rates.