Science Story

08 January 2009 20:38 BST

Extra fruit and veg 'does not boost cancer survival'

Eating more than the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day does not help to reduce the chances of cancer recurrence or death in breast cancer patients, scientists have concluded.

People are advised to have a healthy, balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables to reduce the risk of cancer.

But US researchers claim that "dramatically" increasing uptake of fruit, vegetables and fibre while reducing fat intake does not have additional health benefits.

A team at the Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Study, based at UC San Diego, analysed 3,088 breast cancer survivors aged 18 to 70 for between six and 11 years.

The women were divided into two groups; the first followed a normal diet according to government guidelines while the second 'intensive intervention' group was asked to include five vegetable servings, 16 ounces of vegetable juice, three fruit servings, 30 grams of fibre, and 15 to 20 per cent from fat.

After an average of seven years the researchers found no difference in recurrence or survival between the two groups.

About 17 per cent of women in both groups developed further breast cancer while ten per cent of women died in each group.

Lead researcher Dr John said: "The WHEL Study provides strong evidence that, for the typical woman diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, there is no additional health benefit over seven years from dramatically increasing the diet's amount of nutrient-rich plant-based foods, compared to following the recommended healthy diet."

Dr Bette Caan added that the results did not mean women should stop paying attention to what they eat.

"In addition to exercising regularly, eating a diet that has plenty of fruits and vegetables and is moderate in fat is still one of the best ways we know to maintain health," she said.