How Nutrition Affects Your Breast Cancer Risk

One in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. Breast cancer has many contributing factors that influence if someone is diagnosed – environment, genetics, and lifestyle among them.

What we eat and drink has an impact on our risk of developing certain diseases, including breast cancer.

Daniel M. Tuvin, MD, is the Medical Director of Surgical Oncology with Rochester Regional Health and works frequently with breast cancer patients. He explains the relationship between nutrition and breast cancer risk, and what patients can do to reduce their overall breast cancer risk.

Alcohol and breast cancer risk

Using alcohol significantly worsens breast cancer risk. When someone drinks alcohol, it reduces the liver’s ability to break down estrogen – increasing the amount of estrogen in the body and raising the risk of developing breast cancer.

As the body breaks down alcohol, it creates acetaldehyde as a byproduct. This chemical is carcinogenic and suppresses cancer defenses, linking it to multiple types of cancers.

Alcohol also takes folic acid away from other parts of the body, which alters the body’s homeostasis, and contributes to weight gain, which raises the body’s estrogen levels and thereby increases breast cancer risk.

The most common misconception about alcohol and breast cancer risk is that there is a safe level of alcohol consumption relative to risk. One analysis of 53 different studies found women who had 2-3 alcoholic drinks per day have a 20 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer compared to women who do not drink alcohol.

“Even small doses are well known to increase the risk of breast cancer, to the point where one drink a day would increase your risk of developing breast cancer by 5 percent,” Dr. Tuvin said. “It really has no benefit.”

Caffeine and breast cancer risk

Research suggest caffeine does not have a strong effect one way or the other when it comes to breast cancer risk.

Studies show a decreased risk of breast cancer for daily coffee drinkers, and another study shows no real change for postmenopausal women who drank coffee or tea. For women who may have the BRCA1 gene mutation, some studies suggest caffeine appears to have a protective effect, especially for postmenopausal women.

Drinking energy drinks like Celsius or Red Bull are unlikely to have any meaningful effect – either reducing or increasing the risk of developing breast cancer.

“At worst, consuming caffeine would be neutral for breast cancer risk,” Dr. Tuvin said. “If anything, it will help you, not harm you.”

How good nutrition helps breast cancer patients

For breast cancer patients, nutrition can be an important part of preparing for surgery. Surgical oncology providers will assess patients as part of their prehab and see how they can keep them as healthy as possible before beginning treatment and surgery. This includes physical therapy to improve strength and nutrition to build up the body’s reserves.

“These prehab preparations are well documented in helping to improve surgical outcomes,” Dr. Tuvin said.

Other nutritional factors influencing breast cancer risk

Eating healthy can benefit women both from a preventative standpoint, as well as women who are current breast cancer patients.

“As a physician, I do recommend my patients eat healthy,” Dr. Tuvin said. “Healthy eating looks like eating fewer processed foods, more fresh fruits & vegetables, and less red meat. That has been shown to improve overall health.”

Generally, health experts encourage eating less

• processed foods
• red meat
• processed sugar

Over time, these types of foods will significantly increase a person’s risk of multiple types of cancer, including breast cancer.

Instead, health experts encourage eating foods that are similar to a Mediterranean diet, including:

• fruits
• vegetables
• lean meats or fish
• nuts, legumes & beans

These types of foods are more likely to have a slight protective effect on breast cancer.

Maintaining a healthy weight also helps to reduce breast cancer risk. Research points to increased estrogen in the body raising the chances of a breast cancer diagnosis. Because women’s bodies have two main sources of estrogen – ovaries and fat – having a lower BMI can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer.

“There is no single thing we can invest everything in and fully prevent breast cancer,” Dr. Tuvin said. “There are many factors that affect our risk of breast cancer, and nutrition is one thing that we can change that can help us move toward a healthier lifestyle.”