By David Liu PHD

Thursday March 1, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Breast cancer is a deadly disease for many women. The disease is expected in about 200,000 women in the United States in 2012 and as many as 50,000 women are expected to die from the disease this year in the country.

Some women may believe that mammography screening is the best way to prevent breast cancer, at least doctors tell them so.  But a study suggests that at least one more thing women can do to minimize their risk for the disease is restricting caloric intake or paracticing caloric restriction prior to age 40.

The study published in 2004 in Journal of American Medical Assassination found Swedish women who practiced anorexia nervosa prior to age 40 were 53 percent less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, compared with those who did not.  

For the study, Karin B. Michels and Anders Ekborm of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health and Karolinska Institute in Sweden identified 7303 Sweden women hospitalized for anorexia nervosa prior to age 40 years between 1965 and 1998 from a number of registries including the Swedish Inpatient Registry, the Swedish Cancer Registry, the Swedish Death Registry and the Swedish Fertility Registry. The study excluded those who were diagnosed with cancer prior to their first discharge from hospitalization due to anorexia nervosa.

Then the researchers compared these patients with the Swedish general population for incidence of breast cancer and found that these patients had a 53 percent lower incidence of breast cancer.

Even the patients who were nulliparous or had never given birth were 23 percent less likely to develop breast cancer, compared to the Swedish general population.  Being nulliparous is known to increase risk for breast cancer.

For women who had given birth, but practiced anorexia nervosa, the risk for breast cancer was reduced by up to 75 percent, compared to those in the general population.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by excessive weight loss, and irrational fear of gaining weight and distorted body self -perception, according to wikipedia. The disorder usually develops during adolescence and early adulthood.

The researchers said  restricting caloric intake is one of the most effective ways to extend lifespan of an animal and to reduce their spontaneous tumor occurrence.

The study suggests that caloric restriction can also be used to reduce risk for invasive or life-threatening breast cancer in humans as well.

Caloric restriction is known to reduce risk of many other chronic diseases and extend lifespan in those who follow this dietary paractice.

Many things women can do to reduce their risk for breast cancer.  two most significant preventatives may be avoiding medical radiation, which is a known carcinogen, and taking sufficient vitamin D supplements or sufficient exposure to the sun can greatly lower the risk.