The studies are everywhere – “eat this, don’t eat that” when it comes to preventing breast cancer.

Dr. Eric Goldsmith, an oncology surgeon with Lee Memorial Health System says, “Nutrition is an area that people look into quite a lot and there’s a lot of things out there. Some sound kind of charlotte and some say ‘gee, this makes sense’.”

Most recently, mushrooms and green tea were attributed to reducing the risk of developing breast cancer. Dr. Goldsmith says there is some truth to that. “For example, a probiotic diet. What is that? That constitutes vegetables, fruits, things like miso soup, small beans, all of these things, green tea, the so-called phytochemicals, contained within these, all these studies suggesting these may actually have a protective effect.” This has proven to help those already diagnosed. ”Interestingly, women who have breast cancer and go on these diets overall have had a reduced risk of reoccurrence of their breast cancer,” says Dr. Goldsmith.

While studies continue to circulate, doctors and researchers do agree on a few things: “We do know for example when it comes to nutrition and breast cancer, that women can be very proactive. Early studies from the 40’s on suggested that and continue to suggest that high fat diets, high fat intake in your diet, is absolutely detrimental.”

As the debate continues Dr. Goldsmith is certain about one thing, “good healthy diet, good protein, low carbs, low calories, low fat, no more than 10 or 15 percent in your diet, exercise, there’s a lot to be said for it.”

Which goes to show that a healthy lifestyle can go a long way.