Walnuts: Breast Cancer Super Food?

Healthy, Recipes
on September 8, 2011
Orange Walnut Quinoa
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The recent on-air announcement by NBC news reporter Andrea Mitchell that she has breast cancer has cast a national spotlight on the disease that affects 1 in 8 women in America.

Thanks to an early diagnosis, Mitchell's prognosis is, in her own words, "terrific," yet her announcement is a reminder that breast cancer is a threat all women should take to heart. A recent study supported by California Walnuts and the American Institute of Cancer Research, however, helps offer some hopeful insight, connecting the dots between dietary choices and cancer risks in general.

The study has found that eating a small quantity of walnuts (about 2 ounces a day) may slow the development and growth of breast cancer tumors. "Walnuts contain multiple ingredients that individually have been reported to reduce cancer risk or growth rate. These ingredients include omega-3 fatty acids; phytosterols…and antioxidants," the study reads. "A comparison with another dietary intervention indicated that the omega 3 content alone did not account for the extent of tumor suppression due to the walnut. The results of this study indicate that walnut consumption could contribute to a healthy diet to reduce risk for breast cancer."

Coincidentally, the study comes just before the October launch of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the height of the walnut harvest season in California. Here are four walnut-anchored recipes that are equally rich with whole grains and fresh veggies—also part of a healthy, cancer risk-reducing regimen.

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