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The hype over a recent study of diet and breast cancer recurrence has not only confused consumers, but could possibly discourage women from increasing produce intake.This would be a tragic outcome, given that eating fewer fruits and vegetables would possibly leave women more vulnerable to a variety of ailments, ranging from breast cancer to obesity to cardiovascular disease.We delved into the fine print of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study and concluded that the qualified findings do not merit the negative, sweeping characterizations they've received in much of the media.
Researchers compared breast cancer recurrence rates of 3,000 women over the course of seven years.The intervention group ate 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day -- versus seven servings for the "control" group.There was no significant difference in rates of breast cancer recurrence between the two groups -- which, when you consider that they were separated by only a cup-and-a-half of produce -- is not exactly blockbuster news.To extrapolate from this that more fruit and veggies provides "no cancer benefit" seems unreasonable when 60% of Americans fail to eat even five servings a day.In effect, the study compared high consumption to higher consumption -- not high consumption to low consumption, which might have proved more definitive and relevant.
