A frequent diet of fruit and vegetables can lower the risk of an aggressive form of breast cancer according to a new scientific study.
The study, led by Dr Seungyoun Jung, formerly at the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in the US, found lower rates of 'oestrogen receptor-negative breast cancer' cases - tumours which do not respond to circulating oestrogen and have a lower rate of survival - among women who ate high amounts of fresh produce.
The 'oestrogen receptor-negative breast cancer' accounts for 15 to 20 per cent of all breast cancers.
The investigation - published on 24 January in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute - analysed data from 20 prior studies of women who were followed for a maximum of 11 to 20 years.
'It is plausible that oestrogen receptor-negative breast cancer is influenced by nutritional factors,' said Dr Paolo Boffetta, director of the Institute for Translation Epidemiology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, in New York City.
