By Nicole Chiu - Contributing Health Journalist

We’ve always known that fruits and vegetables are good for us, yet recent research has found that particularly for women survivors of breast cancer, eating a diet enriched with fruits, vegetables and fiber is not only essential but may be a key component in ensuring that tumors do not reappear in their bodies.

The Journal of Clinical Oncology reports a study which indicates that eating more fruits and vegetables may reduce the risks of breast cancer survivors’ redevelopment of tumors by nearly a third.

The resulting data indicated this link for women who did not experience hot flashes after their cancer therapy. The researchers conclude that these findings suggest a link between fruits, vegetables and estrogen.

Past studies have also tested these theories about fruits, vegetables and the redevelopment of tumors, and this research has indicated that this risk depends on the individual patient.

Ellen Gold, leader of the study, from the University of California Davis, explains that “Women with early stage breast cancer who have hot flashes have better survival and lower recurrence rates than women who don’t.”

Whilst this fact has been shown in other research, Gold’s research shows that for women who experience hot flashes after treatment, their estrogen levels are lower.

Estrogen has been found to be a key driver of most breast cancers, and thus the study has found that by eating more than the daily US government recommended dosage of vegetables – five servings – the breast cancer survivors' harmful estrogen levels were lowered.

As the evidence shows that fruits and vegetables aid with lowering estrogen levels, it is noted that the extra amount of servings per day may only beneficial to women with estrogen levels above a certain threshold.

A second approach in the study involved 3,000 breast cancer patients and a low fat diet plus extra portions of fruits and vegetables. This kind of diet has been shown in past research to prevent development of first-time breast cancer.

Of the women participants in the study, averaging age 53, half were the control group of a normal diet, which the other half were told to add an extra 10 servings of fruit, vegetables, fiber and foods low in fat. The result was that 16 percent of the group eating extra servings of fruits, vegetables, fiber and a low-fat diet had re-developing tumors, whilst 23 percent of the group on a normal diet had re-developed tumors.

For women who had been through menopause, the risk lowered by 47 percent when the extra servings of fruit and vegetables were added to their diet.

One way of being able to consume more servings of fruits and vegetables than the average person is through drinking vegetable juices.