“B” is for Breast

Good news on the breast cancer prevention front has been relatively scarce. But a new study suggests that some key vitamins may have real power to prevent the disease. Looking at ten years of data, researchers at Harvard University compared 712 women who developed breast cancer with 712 who remained cancer-free. Among premenopausal women, those who had diets high in vitamin B-12 reduced their breast cancer risk by an impressive 63 percent. Postmenopausal women didn’t see much of a benefit from B-12, but those who got a lot of B-6 reduced their risk by 34 percent. Folate was another effective cancer-fighter in the study, specifically for women who also drank about 15 grams, or one glass, of an alcoholic beverage a day. For this group, the folate seemed to blunt the moderately elevated cancer risk associated with alcohol consumption. (Its protective effects were similar in pre- and postmenopausal women.) The women in the study got their vitamins from a combination of supplements and foods, and you may need to do the same to match the amounts they took in: 3 milligrams of B-6, 8 micrograms of B-12, and 423 mcg of folate per day. To get B vitamins in foods, try fortified breakfast cereals, oranges, and orange juice. For folate, look for leafy greens like spinach, dry beans and peas, and fortified breads, pasta, and cereal. Oranges and their juice also contain folate. So if you’re sold on drinking something alcoholic with dinner, your best bet may be a nice mimosa.