THURSDAY, May 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Adhering to a Mediterranean diet may significantly reduce a woman's risk of endometrial cancer, according to a new study published in the May issue of the British Journal of Cancer.
Cristina Bosetti, M.D., of the IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche in Milan, and colleagues analyzed the diets of 5,079 Italian women to determine how closely they followed the Mediterranean diet.
Women who followed seven of the nine components of the Mediterranean diet had a 57 percent reduced risk of endometrial cancer, the investigators found. Those who followed six components of the diet had a 46 percent reduced risk, and those who followed five components had a 34 percent reduced risk. Women who followed fewer than five components did not have a significantly lower risk of endometrial cancer.
"While we know that getting older and being overweight both increase a woman's risk of womb cancer, the idea that a Mediterranean diet could help reduce the risk needs more research. This is partly because this study was based on people remembering what they had eaten in the past," Julie Sharp, Ph.D., Cancer Research UK's head of health information, said in a news release from the organization. "Cancer risk is affected by our age and our genes, but a healthy lifestyle can also play a part in reducing the risk of some cancers."
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