Breast cancer is associated to consuming food with high glycemic index

In a joint study conducted by US and Canadian scientists, consuming food with high glycemic index have been linked with having breast cancer for women.

The study, which had spanned 16.6 years and observed the incidence of breast cancer in 1461 cases, had confirmed that the risk is much significant for women who are past their menopause.

High glycemic index (GI) is often found in foods that have simple carbohydrates and sugars like refined flour, sugar and lot of other foods, which are less in fibers, and thus takes less time for the body to digest. For quite some time researchers have encouraged people to consume more of food which are low in glycemic index and avoid foods that have high GI value, as the former are considered to be healthier than the latter.

This is the first time research has associated such food with incidence of breast cancer. The researchers are of the opinion that the risk of breast cancer due to food intake may not be modified by correct body mass index and physical activity, or even the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for postmenopausal women. However, associations between the risk of breast cancer and high GI value food may be slightly stronger for women with no physical activity among those who use HRT.

Reference: International Journal of Cancer, issue April 2005