Eating seaweed may help prevent breast cancer

The Japanese staple may be one reason Asian women have lower risk    Summary  Japanese women regularly eat seaweed, while women in the West tend to think it's gross. But a new study of the differences between Eastern and Western diets suggests that the Japanese may be onto something. The study indicates that women whose diets are rich in seaweed are much less likely to develop breast cancer, and that's probably one reason Asian women have a lower overall cancer rate than women in the West.    Details  More than just a slimy nuisance that wraps itself around your ankles while you walk the beach, seaweed may actually be a powerful tool in the fight against breast cancer. That's because a diet containing kelp seaweed may reduce the amounts of estrogen circulating in the body, a new study claims. Lower estrogen levels mean there's less fuel available for the development of estrogen-dependent cancers, such as some forms of breast cancer, the researchers explain. This study, which appears in the Feb. 2 issue of the Journal of Nutrition is the latest to examine differences between the typical Asian diet and the typical Western diet, looking at how those differences might contribute to the development of breast cancer. In some Asian countries, seaweed is even eaten as a snack, said study author Christine Skibola, an assistant research toxicologist at the University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health. The current study, done in rats, developed out of several case studies Skibola had conducted on women taking 700-milligram seaweed supplements daily to treat extremely irregular menstrual cycles from disorders such as endometriosis. Skibola noticed the women's menstrual cycles became longer and more regular, and that their blood levels of estradiol -- a form of estrogen -- dropped significantly. To further test the effects of seaweed, Skibola and her colleagues had rats consume bladderwrack seaweed, which is closely related to two Japanese favorites, wakame and kombu seaweed. To ensure that the rats consumed the correct dose of dried kelp, it was sprinkled onto their favorite food, apples. "Women shouldn't go out and start eating lots of seaweed," said Decker, who added that it's probably more important for breast cancer prevention to eat an overall healthy diet and to make sure you get screening mammograms beginning in your 40s.