Mushrooms help Breast Cancer
New US research has found that eating 100 grams or less of white button mushrooms each day could reduce the incidence of breast cancer by suppressing oestrogen production in the body.
The study conducted by the City of Hope Cancer Centre and published in the December 15 issue of Cancer Research, suggests that the preventative effect is most significant on postmenopausal women.
Dr Shiuan Chen, Ph.D., director of the City of Hope Department of Surgical Research, and lead author of the study said the research had been undertaken because previous clinical use has shown that aromatase inhibitors are effective drugs for treating hormone-responsive breast cancer and for preventing other breast cancers from developing.
Dr Chen said that since 60 per cent of premenopausal women and 75 per cent of postmenopausal women have breast cancers that need oestrogen to grow, controlling oestrogen levels can help limit or prevent cancer growth. He said the effect was greater in postmenopausal women because they have the lowest circulating oestrogen levels, and their oestrogen production is controlled by tissues rather than by their brains. Aromatase is normally expressed in a number of tissues such as ovary, placenta, breast, fat and bone, but it is expressed at higher levels in breast cancer tissue than normal breast tissue.
