Onion, Garlic Likely To Reduce The Risk Of Breast Cancer

A new research has shown that consumption of garlic and onion may reduce the risk of breast cancer in women. These are great in flavor with a strong pungent kick and may also be effective against heart diseases, diabetes and even cancer.

There have been many studies which understand the link between the consumption of garlic and onion and risk of stomach, prostate and colorectal cancers. The more the consumption of these vegetables the lesser was the risk of getting these diseases. Gauri Desai, who is a doctoral candidate at University of Buffalo, said that less research was done to find the link with breast cancer.

Women in Puerto Rico were studied by Desai and her team for this purpose. There were two reasons for choosing this nation. This region has lower rates of breast cancer. Secondly sofrito which is a traditional sauce of Puerto Rico consists of large amounts of garlic and onion and is widely used by the people there.

Clinic and hospital records of 314 women between the ages of 30-79 who suffered from breast cancer over the period from 2008-2014, were studied. Control participants numbering 346 were also included by the researchers and were matched based on the residential area and age. These people had no cancer history other than non-melanoma skin cancer. A questionnaire based on food frequency was used to study the dietary patterns and the total intake of garlic and onion. It was found that there was 67% reduction in risk in case of people who consumed sofrito more than one time per day. The study author said that consumption of garlic and onion combined with sofrito reduced breast cancer risk in Puerto Rican women.

Researchers are of the view that the organosulphur compounds and flavonols which is abundantly present in garlic and onion may be the reason for the anticancer effects. Senior author of the study, Dr. Lina Mu has said that diallylsulphide, diallyldisulphide and S-allylcysteine in garlic and alkyl cysteine sulphoxides present in onion might be responsible for anticarcinogenic properties.

There are some limitations to the study. The size of study was small. Secondly, to be used as a reference, people who did not consume garlic or onion were very little. Lastly there is no standard recipe for sofrito.