Walnut season... Eat them to Beat breast cancer...»

They are hard to crack, but walnuts
have a handful of medicinal values
from curing headache and
preventing baldness to having some
influence on fertility.
Now, a new research has found that
eating a modest amount of walnuts
as a regular part of the diet might
reduce a woman's chance of
developing breast cancer.
The researchers at the Marshall
University found that a daily dose
of walnuts - equal to 2 ounces a day
in humans - reduces the growth of
breast cancer tumors in mice.
Lead researcher Elaine Hardman,
Ph.D., of Marshall's Joan C. Edwards
School of Medicine, and colleagues
studied the mice from the mother,
through conception and throughout
life. They then compared mice given
walnuts to those fed a regular diet.
They found that the group whose
diet included walnut at both stages
developed breast cancer at less than
half the rate of the group with the
typical diet.
In addition, the number of tumors
and their sizes were significantly
smaller.
"These reductions are particularly
important when you consider that
the mice were genetically
programmed to develop cancer at a
high rate," Hardman said.
"We were able to reduce the risk for
cancer even in the presence of a
preexisting genetic mutation," she
added.
Using genetic analysis, they
researchers found that the walnut-
containing diet changed the activity
of multiple genes that are relevant
to breast cancer in both mice and
humans.
Walnuts are rich in omega-3 fatty
acids, antioxidants and phytosterols
that may all reduce the risk of the
disease.
"The results of this study indicate
that increased consumption of
walnut could be part of a healthy
diet and reduce risk for cancer in
future generations," she said.
The study was funded by grants
from the American Institute for
Cancer Research and the California
Walnut Commission.
The study appears in the journal
Nutrition and Cancer .