Dry beans are recommended for breast cancer
There are a number of varieties of dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) consumed in the United States and their chemopreventative potential varies greatly. For the purposes of this website, dry beans are defined as black beans, kidney beans, navy beans, pinto beans, pink beans, red beans and white beans. The following beans are specifically excluded from the dry bean category: adzuki beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, fava beans, lentils, lima beans, and mung beans. Dry beans have been shown to contain potent antioxidant and antiproliferative components.
Breast cancer-related effects of eating dry beans
One study found six flavonoids in the coats of black beans with potent antiproliferative activities against hormone receptor positive (ER+/PR+) breast cancer cells. Another study found that tanins isolated from black beans inhibited angiogenesis. Several studies have found that dry bean consumption reduces mammary tumor incidence and number in rats. One study that examined the cellular processes by which tumor burden was reduced reported that the dominant process was induction of apoptosis (programmed cell death). Circuling insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (both risk factors for breast cancer) were also reduced.
A study of the diets of 90,630 women in the Nurses Health Study II found a significant inverse relationship between breast cancer and the intake of beans. Another study found that higher intake of dry beans improved survival among postmenopausal women with breast cancer. The authors attributed this survival advantage to the lignan content of beans.
Additional comments
A number of studies have shown that dry beans are antiproliferative and proapoptic versus colon cancer cells and that this effect appears to be due to both soluble and insoluble components of the beans.
Tags: dryBeans, fiber, flavonoids, lignan