Healthy lifestyle 'could cut cancer risk'

Studies presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting have offered a new insight into how a healthy diet and lifestyle could reduce the risk of contracting breast cancer.

Two studies in particular demonstrate that more fruit and vegetables and an increased amount of exercise could significantly decrease the incidence of the disease, which is the most common cancer in England, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The first, conducted by researchers from Sweden's Karolinska Institute, studied 51,823 women and found that those who consumed the most dietary fibre were 15 per cent less likely to develop a breast cancer of any sort.

Meanwhile, a second, separate investigation by a researcher at BioServe Biotechnologies looked into how exercise affected the rate of cancer. It found that the women who participated in 30 to 150 minutes of exercise per week were 50 per cent less likely to contract breast cancer.

Marji McCullough of the American Cancer Society told Web MD: "Women should work out 30 minutes a day, five times a week, to reap the greatest benefits."

It was revealed today (April 16th) that Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon secretly battled breast cancer two years ago at age 40. She is now set to become a spokeswoman for the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in the US.