Start young to stop breast cancer
November 9th, 2005
What girls eat before puberty may protect them later
By Karen Collins, R.D.
MSNBC
Updated: 9:49 a.m. ET Nov. 4, 2005
Many people think of adolescence as a time to eat without worry about future health consequences. Most teenage girls, if they think about what they eat at all, are concerned about how their nutrition affects their sports performance or weight control.
But research now suggests that adolescence may offer a unique window of opportunity for substantially lowering the risk of breast cancer later in life.
Unlike other tissues in the body, breast tissue in babies and young girls has only one duct. Hormones secreted during puberty cause this duct to grow rapidly into a tree-like structure with more ducts. Carcinogens bind more readily to DNA in the immature cells that develop while this duct expands.
These cells also appear less efficient at repairing damage to genes that these carcinogens may cause. After a woman’s first full-term pregnancy, breast cells reach maturity and are much less sensitive to DNA damage.
Genistein, a phytochemical in soy, may promote the development of immature breast cells into more mature cells less vulnerable to carcinogens, according to studies presented at the most recent American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) international conference on diet and cancer.
Source: msnbc.msn.com
Entry Filed under: Nutrition News
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