African-American women who eat their veggies have a reduced risk of estrogen-negative breast cancer, according to a new study from Boston University. This is good news because estrogen-negative—especially triple-negative‚ disproportionately affects African-American women, who also face higher fatality rates from the disease than white women. Researchers from the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University School of Medicine studied 51,928 women for 12 years who participated in the Black Women’s Health Study. Among the women, all of whom were African-American, Hormone receptor cancer (ER-/PR-) cases were 43 percent lower for those women who ate at least two vegetables a day compared to those who ate fewer than four a week. (Really? Fewer than four veggies a week? OK, never mind. I used to eat like that.)
Researchers said cruciferous veggies—cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, mustard greens—were especially beneficial, as were carrots.
The study used the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance and Epidemiology End Results (SEER) data. It was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, published online October 11, 2010.
As I write this, I am drinking the fresh vegetable juice my dear hubby makes me every night—it contains carrots, kale, and cabbage, plus apples and lemon for taste. Such an easy way to get the goodies, especially cruciferous vegetables.