Fatemeh Toorang - Department of Nutrition , Schools of Health and Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
Soraya Ebrahimpour Koujan - Department of Nutrition , Schools of Health and Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

Introduction and Aim: Vegetarians often described by omitting animal foodsfrom their diet, it refers to a great heterogenic group which differ in adding milkproduct, poultry, fish and eggs. Based on epidemiologic studies, vegetarian dietis correlated with lower morality from circulatory disease, type 2 diabetes andcertain cancers. Vegetarian are leaner and consume more fruits and vegetablesand omit or limit red meat which all are considered as cancer modifying factors.This article aim is survey the relation between vegetarian diet and breast cancerrisk.Methods and Materials: This review compromised on published articles inPubMed and GoogleScholar according to key words since 2000Results: Data of prospective studies showed no overall association betweenvegetarian diet and risk of breast cancer and meta-analysis results suggestsmoderate protective effects for high fruit and vegetable consumption and breastcancer risk. New studies suggest that adding dairy product to vegan diet mayimprove its quality supplying some nutrients such as calcium, potassium,magnesium and essential amino acids. Sometimes vegans supply these nutrientsvia supplements. These alternative sources increase risk of some cancers such asbreast cancer, maybe through high level of calcium which decreases the 1, 25dihydroxyvitamin D levels, a potent anti cancer hormone. Moreover the casecontrolstudy results showed that vegetarian compared to omnivore have higherdietary intake of soy beans and higher levels of isoflavonoids in plasma andurine that inversely related to breast cancer risk.Conclusion: However, large studies are needed to exclude small or moderatedifferences for specific cause of breast cancer. To sum it up, if a vegetarian dietis appropriately planed and includes fortified foods or some supplements, it canbe nutritionally adequate and can prevent breast cancer.

vegan, lacto vegetarian, breast cancer