BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhuanet)-- Consuming plant foods rich in estrogen-like compounds called lignans may help women curb breast cancer after menopause, according to a French study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

    Women should follow the general dietary guidelines for a healthy and prudent diet, that is, consuming large amounts and varieties of fruits, vegetables and whole-grain cereal products daily (all foods rich in lignans) may also help prevent breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to Dr. Francoise Clavel-Chapelon, from the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, Villejuif, France.

    Clavel-Chapelon and associates evaluated the relationship between the amount of four types of plant ligands in the diet and breast cancer risk in 58,049 postmenopausal French women.

    A total of 1,469 women in the study group were diagnosed with breast cancer during the follow-up period of more than seven years.

    Analysis of the data showed that women with the highest total amount of lignans in the diet had a 17-percent lower risk of developing breast cancer compared with women having the lowest dietary lignan levels.

    The women got their lignans from fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, and grain products including bread, breakfast cereals, rice, and pasta.

    Flaxseed, which is particularly high in lignans, isn't part of the traditional French diet, but it may be becoming more common in French multigrain bread, the researchers note.

    A diet containing lots of plant foods is hypothesized to offer a breast cancer prevention strategy, the researcher added.

    This hypothesis was recently confirmed by a study that found a reduced risk of invasive breast cancer among postmenopausal women with high lignan levels in their diet, Clavel-Chapelon said.

(Agencies)