Study: Beans may reduce breast cancer risk 

Beans, beans, they’re good for the heart… and the breasts? Maybe so, according to two studies in the International Journal of Cancer that deal with how beans and other foods can affect your breast cancer risk.

The first study investigated the link between consumption of flavonols – substances in plant-based foods that are thought to offer protection against a variety of diseases – and the risk of developing breast cancer in premenopausal women.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, analyzed data from more than 90,000 premenopausal women who participated in the Nurses Health Study II. Using information on the women’s diets gleaned from food frequency questionnaires, the researchers compared the women’s intake of a variety of flavonols with their chance of developing breast cancer. Over the course of the study, 710 of the women were diagnosed with breast cancer.

While the researchers found no association between breast cancer risk and consumption of the types of flavonols contained in tea, onions, apples, string beans, broccoli, green peppers, and blueberries, they found that women who ate beans and lentils on a regular basis were less likely to develop breast cancer. In fact, they found that women who ate beans or lentils at least twice a week were 24% less likely to develop breast cancer than women who ate those foods less than once a month.

The second study examined the link between breast cancer risk and glycemic index in the diet. A food’s glycemic index value is a ranking of the effect of its carbohydrates on blood sugar levels. Foods with high glycemic index values cause a quick rise in blood sugar, whereas low-glycemic-index foods raise blood sugar more slowly.

In the study, a team of researchers looked at the overall glycemic index and other factors in the diets of nearly 50,000 Canadian women who had participated in the National Breast Cancer Screening Study. During a follow-up period of 16 years, 1,461 women developed breast cancer.

While the researchers found no link between glycemic index and breast cancer risk in the overall study population, in postmenopausal women, they found diets with a high glycemic index were associated with an 87% greater risk of breast cancer. The association was even stronger among postmenopausal women who reported no vigorous physical activity, those who had been treated with hormone replacement therapy and women who were not overweight.

There are many factors that can affect a food’s glycemic index, including how processed it is and how it is prepared. Generally, wholesome, high-fibre foods such as whole grains, legumes, beans, fruits and vegetables tend to have better glycemic ratings than most starchy or processed foods.

In premenopausal women, a high glycemic-index diet was actually associated with a 22% reduction in breast cancer risk.

Both studies note that further investigation must be done before any broad conclusions may be drawn.

Red wine ingredient resveratrol stops breast cancer growth

New research in the FASEB Journal shows that resveratrol blocks the growth effects of estrogen by reducing the specific breast cancer receptors

Bethesda, MD—Cheers! A new research report appearing in the October 2011 issue of The FASEB Journal (https://www.fasebj.org) shows that resveratrol, the “healthy” ingredient in red wine, stops breast cancer cells from growing by blocking the growth effects of estrogen. This discovery, made by a team of American and Italian scientists, suggests for the first time that resveratrol is able to counteract the malignant progression since it inhibits the proliferation of hormone resistant breast cancer cells. This has important implications for the treatment of women with breast cancer whose tumors eventually develop resistance to hormonal therapy.

“Resveratrol is a potential pharmacological tool to be exploited when breast cancer become resistant to the hormonal therapy,” said Sebastiano Andò, a researcher involved in the work from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Calabria in Italy.

Resveratrol may help protect against breast cancer by blocking the growth effects of estrogen.

To make this discovery, Andò and colleagues used several breast cancer cell

expressing the estrogen receptor to test the effects of resveratrol. Researchers then treated the different cells with resveratrol and compared their growth with cells left untreated. They found an important reduction in cell growth in cells treated by resveratrol, while no changes were seen in untreated cells. Additional experiments revealed that this effect was related to a drastic reduction of estrogen receptor levels caused by resveratrol itself.

“These findings are exciting, but in no way does it mean that should people go out and start using red wine or resveratrol supplements as a treatment for breast cancer,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “What it does mean, however, is that scientists haven’t finished distilling the secrets of good health that have been hidden in natural products such as red wine.”

Receive monthly highlights from The FASEB Journal by e-mail. Sign up at http://www.faseb.org/fjupdate.aspx. The FASEB Journal(http://www.fasebj.org) is published by the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2011. Over the past quarter century, the journal has been recognized by the Special Libraries Association as one of the top 100 most influential biomedical journals of the past century and is the most cited biology journal worldwide according to the Institute for Scientific Information.

FASEB comprises 24 societies with more than 100,000 members, making it the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States. FASEB enhances the ability of scientists and engineers to improve—through their research—the health, well-being and productivity of all people. FASEB’s mission is to advance health and welfare by promoting progress and education in biological and biomedical sciences through service to our member societies and collaborative advocacy.

Details: Francesca De Amicis, Francesca Giordano, Adele Vivacqua, Michele Pellegrino, Maria Luisa Panno, Donatella Tramontano, Suzanne A. W. Fuqua, and Sebastiano Andò. Resveratrol, through NF-Y/p53/Sin3/HDAC1 complex phosphorylation, inhibits estrogen receptor α gene expression via p38MAPK/CK2 signaling in human breast cancer cells. FASEB J. 2011 25:3695-3707; doi:10.1096/fj.10-178871 ;http://www.fasebj.org/content/25/10/3695.abstract