Food Groups and Breast Cancer: A Review of Current Evidence

One of the factors associated to the increase or decrease in breast cancer risk is different dietary patterns of consumption by using different food groups. Therefore، the role of diet has attracted the attention of researchers to the extent that many studies have investigated the role of food groups in the risk of breast cancer. This study aimed to review the current evidence regarding the association of food groups and breast cancer. We searched PubMed for related publications using «dietary fats”، “meat and processed meat»، “fruit and vegetable”، “food group”، “dairy” and «carbohydrate» and grains as keywords. We searched for papers that had been published between 2009 and 2011 and were on human subjects. About 400 papers were identified and after the elimination of papers that were unrelated to the subject the 31 relevant studies available for review were examined. Some studies have shown that dietary patterns rich in vegetables، and with less meat and processed food are related to the reduced risk of breast cancer. However، a number of other studies have not attained such results. Certain vegetables and fruits consumption rather than consumption of the whole vegetables group is much more important in reducing the risk of breast cancer. Consumption of processed meat has been consistently reported as a factor in enhancing the risk of breast cancer. The findings of studies on the effects of food consumption patterns’، rich in vegetables with antioxidant components and low in the glycemic index of carbohydrates، association with reduced cancer risk shoed consistency. Therefore، it seems that future investigations should be focused on the association between different dietary patterns and risk of breast cancer in relation to hormonal and genetic factors.