Vegetarian Diet May Protect Against Breast Cancer NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A lifelong commitment to a vegetarian diet may lower a woman's risk of developing breast cancer (news - web sites), study findings suggest. In the study, investigators found that vegetarians who had migrated to England from the Indian subcontinent or East Africa and maintained their native diet of vegetables and legumes had a slightly lower risk of breast cancer than their peers who adopted a Western-style diet, regardless of economic and social factors. The researchers attribute the finding to the vegetarians' higher intake of vegetables and fiber. In the study, the women who consumed the most vegetables and fiber were the least likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer. However, there was no clear association between meat consumption and breast cancer, according to the report in the May issue of the International Journal of Cancer. "These findings suggest that lifelong vegetarianism may be associated with a reduction in the risk of breast cancer through its association with a higher intake of vegetables and (legumes)," report Dr. Isabel dos Santos Silva and colleagues from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK. [05/15/2002; Reuters Health] Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.