For those that don’t have an allergy to peanuts, the regular consumption of peanut butter offers many health benefits. Prevention lists it as a great source of vitamin E, vitamin B6, magnesium, and potassium, and notes that it’s helpful in preventing heart disease and diabetes. And new research published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment is showing that it also helps prevent benign (non-cancerous) breast disease.Read more about peanut butter
The study, performed by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Harvard Medical School, and reported on by the Huffington Post, looked at the health data of more than 9,000 girls between the ages of 9 and 15 who were part of the Growing Up Today study in 1996. In 2005, the researchers started tracking diagnoses of benign breast disease in the participants (then between the ages of 18 and 30) and found that girls who ate peanut butter twice per week during childhood and adolescence reduced their risk of developing benign breast disease in early adulthood by 39 percent.
Benign breast disease is the occurrence of lumps in the breast, sometimes caused by injury or infection, and often presents itself similarly to breast cancer, according to the Susan G. Komen web site. The site also notes that benign breast disease can sometimes require biopsy or other medical treatment, although that is not always required. It is also more common in those with a family history of breast cancer, but this study on peanut butter and breast disease found the decreased risk was particularly strong for those with a family history of breast cancer.
Read more about breast disease
The study found that other sources of vegetables fats and proteins such as lentils and soybeans may also be linked to a reduced risk of benign breast disease, but the evidence of an association was not as clear as it was for peanut butter.
While the study did not look at whether peanut butter consumption had an impact on malignant (cancerous) breast tumors, and researchers would not go so far as to say that peanut butter prevents breast disease, adding it to your daughter's lunch box a few times per week may give her an upper hand in the fight against breast diseases.
Photo: mrsdkrebs
