Women may have lost one way to reduce their risk of breast cancer, according to a recent study.

Although eating fruits and vegetables has been thought to help guard against breast cancer in women, researchers have found their consumption has no effect.

The new findings, published in the Journal of American Medical Association, go against an idea that has been popular in preventive treatment and accepted by many in scientific fields.

“I’m a little bit surprised,” said Sally Barclay, clinician in food science and human nutrition. “Fruits and vegetables seem to be beneficial for so many things.”

Breast cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in women, second only to skin cancer, and is the second-leading cause of death for U.S. women, according to the American Cancer Society Web site.

Women who want to decrease chances of breast cancer should lower their fat intake, focus on getting the right fats and getting enough exercise, Barclay said.

Although fruits and vegetables may not decrease the risk of breast cancer, they provide many other health benefits that should not be ignored.

“[The study] certainly wouldn’t guide me to tell people to eat less of them, because they’re so high in nutrients, high in fiber, low in calories and they have all these preventive compounds,” Barclay said.

The reason the findings of this study conflict with previous findings may be because of the way the study was set up, said Diane Birt, distinguished professor of food science and human nutrition.

This study was a prospective study — a study that starts with a large group of people without cancer and follows them for many years to see how many develop cancer, Birt said. Prospective studies in general deal with people who have better eating habits and therefore eat more fruits and vegetables, so this study may not reflect a wide enough range of fruit and vegetable consumption, she said.

Studies that found fruits and vegetables did lower the risk of breast cancer were case control studies, Birt said. These studies start with subjects who already have cancer. Factors that might contribute to risk are determined and matched to the patients to see if they may have contributed to the cancer’s onset, she said.

“Whether specifically [eating fruits and vegetables] is preventing cancer or not continues to be an open question, but overall it is a good health strategy,” Birt said.

The same day the study was published, the new 2005 dietary guidelines were released encouraging Americans to eat even more fruits and vegetables.