FOLATE, FOLIC ACID AND BREAST CANCER

A diet rich on folate and the related folic acid, which are forms of a B vitamin, may be beneficial when it comes to breast cancer, some studies have shown.

A study on postmenopausal women found that those who took a lot of folate supplements were 22 percent less likely to have breast cancer, compared with those with very low folate intake.

Folate may be protective, particularly against estrogen-receptor-negative types of breast cancer, the researchers concluded in their article, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in December 2008.