RELIEF FROM TENDERNESS
Nothing gives a woman more relief than learning that a lump in her breast is harmless. But that relief can quickly turn to frustration when the lump grows larger and more tender, or when additional lumps begin to appear. Even though the discomfort eases after menstruation, it comes back month after month.
An estimated 60 percent of women suffer from this condition, called fibrocystic breasts, which occurs when tiny, fluid-filled sacs form in the milk-producing glands. For many women, making a few simple dietary changes can help keep it under control, says Sharon Rosenbaum Smith, MD, breast surgeon at St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital in New York City.
Some studies have shown that eliminating foods and beverages that contain caffeine, such as cola, coffee, chocolate, and tea, helps improve fibrocystic breasts. “In some women, the avoidance of caffeine does help the pain of fibrocystic breasts,” says Dr. Rosenbaum Smith.
In a study at Ohio State University in Columbus, 45 women who drank an average of 4 cups of coffee a day quit cold turkey. After 2 months, 37 of the women—82 percent—reported that the lumps and tenderness were entirely gone.
And it looks like women who drink little or no coffee are much less likely to get fibrocystic breasts in the first place. Researchers at Yale University School of Medicine found that women who drank about 2 cups of coffee a day were 150 percent more likely to develop fibrocystic breasts than women getting no caffeine. Women who had four to five cups a day were 230 percent more likely to have the problem.
It’s not only what you drink but also what you eat that can cause tender breasts. Research has shown that women who get a lot of fat in their diets—especially saturated fat, the kind found in meats and high-fat dairy foods—are more likely to develop fibrocystic breasts than women who eat leaner fare. In one small study, 10 women with fibrocystic breasts reduced their intake of dietary fat to 20 percent of total calories. Three months later, all 10 said that their breast pain was gone.
“You need to eat a low-fat diet for about 3 months to see if it helps,” says David P. Rose, MD, PhD, retired chief of the division of nutrition and endocrinology at the Naylor Dana Institute of the American Health Foundation in Valhalla, New York, and the leader of the study. “That’s how long it takes for the estrogen circulating in your blood to decrease.”
To get the most protection, you should limit the amount of fat in your diet to 20 to 25 percent of total calories. There are many ways to reduce the amount of fat in your diet. For example, you should avoid red meats, drink low-fat (1%) or fat-free milk instead of whole milk, and eat more fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains.
“The biggest contributing factor for fibrocystic change in the breasts is caffeine,” says breast surgeon Sharon Rosenbaum Smith, MD, of St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. “In some women, avoiding caffeine works, but it has to be the complete avoidance of caffeine,” she says. So totally remove caffeine from your diet for 2 to 3 months, including tea, coffee, caffeinated soda, and chocolate, and see if the tenderness in your breasts improves.
Reducing fat isn’t the only way to lower estrogen levels in your body. Eating more fruits and vegetables not only reduces fat but also provides more fiber in your diet. “Fiber can help reduce swelling and tenderness of the breasts by absorbing excess estrogen and carrying it out of the body,” Dr. Rose explains.
The Daily Value (DV) for fiber is 25 grams. That should be enough to reduce the estrogen and help ease the pain of fibrocystic breasts, Dr. Rose says. One of the easiest ways to get more fiber is to eat bran-containing cereals at breakfast, he says. Eating nonstarchy vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains will also add fiber to your diet.
There is some evidence that soy protein can combat fibrocystic breast disease. A study published in Integrative Cancer Therapies examined the effect of daily soy consumption on women with fibrocystic breast disease. Sixty-four women were asked to consume soy protein daily without changing anything else in their diets. After 1 year, they had significantly less breast tenderness and fibrocystic breast disease.
There isn’t solid scientific evidence to prove that it works, but some women—and their doctors—say that getting more vitamin E can help reduce the pain of fibrocystic breasts. “I recommend women try vitamin E for 2 to 3 months to see if it works,” says Dr. Rosenbaum Smith.
One way to get extra vitamin E is to take supplements. The Mayo Clinic recommends taking 200 to 400 IU of vitamin E a day for fibrocystic breasts. But getting more vitamin E in your diet can also help. The best sources of vitamin E are vegetable oils like sunflower and safflower oils, which can be high in calories, but you can get vitamin E from other foods as well. A quarter-cup of toasted wheat germ, for example, has 8 IU of vitamin E, or 27 percent of the DV. Almonds are also an excellent source, with 1 ounce of toasted, unblanched almonds containing 7 IU, or 23 percent of the DV.
“One of the most important things I can tell women with fibrocystic breasts is that they shouldn’t worry; everything is okay. Women with fibrocystic breasts are no more likely to get breast cancer than women without the condition,” Dr. Rosenbaum Smith says.