When the girls increased intake of vegetables,fruits, grains, and beans and reduced intake of animal-derived foods,the amount of estradiol (a principal estrogen) in their blood dropped by 30 percent, compared to a group of girls who did not change their diets.
The same phenomenon occurs in men. Men have estrogen in their blood, although much less than women have and cancer researchers have long suspected that both estrogen and testosterone (the “male hormone”) play roles in prostate cancer risk.
But as men cut the fat from their diets, the amounts of both estrogen and testosterone tend to fall. Don’t worry ,this change does not make a man any less masculine. :)
But it may well reduce the hormonal stimulus for prostate cancer growth.
Because of these and related findings, many researchers have suggested that steering clear of meat, dairy products, fried foods, and other fatty fare may reduce cancer risk.
However, it is important to understand that in order to reduce cancer risk or effectively change its course, diet changes have to be significant. Studies have shown that modest diet changes do little or nothing. Indeed, large studies of American women have shown that moderate variations in their fat intake make no difference in their breast cancer risk. The best evidence suggests that, to be effective, diet changes have to be fairly profound.
Nonetheless, research bears out a major effect of diet, not only on cancer prevention, but also on cancer survival. Breast cancer patients who follow lower-fat diets do tend to live substantially longer. Researchers at the State University of New York in Buffalo tracked the diets of 953 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. They then followed them to see who did well and who did not. The results were striking. The risk of dying at any point in time increased by 40 percent for every 1,000 grams of fat the women consumed per month.
To see what this means in practical terms:
If you were to add up all the fat in a typical American diet over the course of a month and compare it to the amount of fat in a low-fat, pure vegetarian diet, the two would differ by approximate 1,500 grams of fat each month. If the study’s findings hold, that would correspond to a 60 percent increased risk of dying at any point in time for patients following a typical American diet.
Conclusion:
The risk of dying at any point in time increased by 40 percent for every 1,000 grams of fat the women consumed per month.
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