Women who choose to eat a Mediterranean diet can cut their risk of womb cancer by more than half, research has shown.
Italian scientists looked at the diets of more than 5,000 women and compared their rates of womb cancer.
They found that those who consumed between seven and nine Mediterranean diet foods lowered their risk of developing the disease by 57 per cent.
Women who stuck to six elements of the diet experienced a 46 per cent reduction in risk while for others who managed five the chances of developing the disease fell by 34 per cent.
Women whose diet included fewer than five Mediterranean diet components did not lower their risk of womb cancer significantly compared with average.
The Mediterranean diet elements included vegetables, fruits, nuts, cereals, potatoes, fish, monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, dairy products, and a moderate amount of alcohol, but little meat.
Lead researcher Cristina Bosetti, from IRCCS-Instituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche, said: “Our research shows the impact a healthy balanced diet could have on a woman’s risk of developing womb cancer. This adds more weight to our understanding of how our everyday choices, like what we eat and how active we are, affect our risk of cancer.”
Each year in the UK there are around 8,500 new cases of womb cancer and rates have increased by around half since the early 1990s.
Julie Sharp, head of health information at the charity Cancer Research UK, said: “While we know that getting older and being overweight both increase a woman’s risk of womb cancer, the idea that a Mediterranean diet could help reduce the risk needs more research. This is partly because this study was based on people remembering what they had eaten in the past.
“Cancer risk is affected by our age and our genes but a healthy lifestyle can also play a part in reducing the risk of some cancers. Not smoking, keeping a healthy weight, being active, eating healthily and cutting down on alcohol helps to stack the odds in your favour.”
The research is published in the British Journal of Cancer, which is owned by Cancer Research UK.