Meer eieren, meer vezels en minder boter verminderen de kans op borstkanker.*  

- Eggs over easy on whole wheat toast -- hold the butter -- may be the breakfast that helps your daughter avoid breast cancer later in life.  That's the conclusion of a new Harvard University study, which finds that "increased consumption of eggs was associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer, whereas increased consumption of butter was associated with a slight increased risk." The study, led by Dr. Lindsay Frazier, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard, also reveals that an increased intake of vegetable oils and fiber appears to be "inversely related to risk of breast cancer." The findings appear in the March issue of the journal Breast Cancer Research. While the researchers say they aren't sure just how the eggs offer protection, they suggest it may be linked to high levels of various nutrients, including amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Most prominent, writes Frazier, are the levels of folate and vitamin D found in eggs, nutrients that have been linked to reduced risk of breast cancer in other studies. Additionally, the study shows that fiber may help protect women by binding, like a key in a lock, to any estrogen that finds its way into the gastrointestinal tract. This binding action helps flush excess estrogen from the body, thus preventing it from circulating in a woman's bloodstream and, ultimately, reaching her breast, where it can promote tumor development. In other studies, fiber has also been associated with an increase in several hormones capable of latching onto receptors directly in the breast, also blocking the cancer-stimulating effects of estrogen. Because the study was based on food recollections of more than 40 years, the authors admit to the possibility of serious flaws in the research. Still, the message is clear to New York University nutritionist Samantha Heller. "What we eat in childhood may have a significant effect on our future risk of developing breast cancer," she says. Heller adds that good health is cumulative, in the sense that what you do today can impact your rate of disease tomorrow. At the same time, she also cautions women not to be swept away with these yet-unproven results. "We don't need to suddenly start chowing down on eggs, but make sure our children are eating healthy foods on a daily basis, which include lots of vegetables, whole grains, legumes [beans], soy, fruits, and non-fat dairy products such as yogurt and milk," says Heller. Previous research has shown it is the development of eating habits rather than the foods eaten in childhood that makes a difference. Dietary patterns established in your teen years often follow you deep into your adult life. The new findings were gleaned from the large Nurses Health Study -- research that began in 1976 and initially involved some 120,000 women. For this leg of the study, the researchers identified 843 women who developed breast cancer between 1976 and 1986. All the women were asked to complete a questionnaire detailing the foods they had eaten during their adolescence -- between the ages of 12 and 18. After computing the results and comparing the answers among women who got cancer and those who remained cancer-free, the researchers conclude eggs made the difference. More specifically, women who ate as little as one egg per day in their teenage years were up to 18 percent less likely to develop breast cancer 40 to 50 years later. In addition, women who consumed higher levels of fiber and vegetable oil also appeared to reduce their risk of breast cancer when compared to women who ate low levels. Those who recalled eating one pat of butter a day saw a slightly increased risk of breast cancer as adults. (HealthScoutNews 2003) 

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