Caring for Your Body

Nutrition

Eating well after a breast cancer diagnosis can help you recover from treatment, maintain strength, and support your long-term health. What you eat also plays a role in lowering the risk of breast cancer recurrence and improves overall well-being. A healthy, balanced diet can help strengthen your immune system, give you more energy, maintain a healthy weight, and reduce side effects like fatigue, nausea, and digestive issues.

Changes in Appetite and Digestion

Treatment can affect how you feel about food. Some people can eat normally, while others may experience nausea, changes in taste, mouth sores, constipation, or diarrhea. If you are having trouble eating or getting enough nutrition, talk to your healthcare team or a dietitian who specializes in cancer care. 

Can Diet Reduce the Risk of Cancer Coming Back?

Some people wonder if what they eat can affect the chance of breast cancer returning. While research is ongoing, some studies suggest that a low-fat diet may help lower this risk. Eating well, staying active, and maintaining a healthy weight can support your recovery and overall health after treatment.

Nutritional Guidance

1. Focus on balanced approaches to eating well

Research shows that overall eating patterns matter more than individual “superfoods.” Evidence-based approaches, like the Mediterranean diet, plant-forward diets, and balanced whole-food diets, are linked to better overall health and may lower your risk of recurrence.

These approaches encourage:

• Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables
• Choosing whole grains
• Including lean proteins, like fish, beans and poultry
• Using healthy fats, such as olive oil
• Limiting processed foods and added sugars

These styles of eating are more beneficial than supplements or restrictive fad diets, which are not supported by evidence and may lead to nutrient gaps.

2. Alcohol and Cancer Risk

Alcohol, even in small amounts, increases the risk of new breast cancers and recurrence.

Current recommendations suggest:

• Avoiding alcohol
• Limiting intake to no more than 1 to 2 drinks per week

Choosing non-alcoholic drinks, mocktails, or sparkling water can support your recovery, protect your long-term health and help lower your recurrence risk.

3. Weight and Body Composition

Maintaining a healthy body weight after treatment may help reduce the risk of recurrence and support long-term health. If your weight changed during treatment, try to make gradual adjustments rather than relying on restrictive diets.

Helpful habits can include:

• Eating mostly plant-forward meals
• Adding regular movement or gentle exercise
• Building muscle strength through light resistance or strength-based activities

Focusing on long-term lifestyle habits tend to be more effective and easier to maintain.

4. Foods and Nutrients to Prioritize

Certain foods offer important nutrients that support healing and overall well-being. This can include:

• High-fibre foods: beans, lentils, oats, barley and whole grains
• Cruciferous vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and cabbage
• Omega-3-rich foods: salmon, sardines, trout, flaxseed, chia seeds, and walnuts
• Antioxidant-rich foods: berries, citrus fruits, dark leafy greens (spinach, Swiss Chard)

A diet that includes a variety of these foods can help support digestion, reduce inflammation, and promote a healthy body weight.

5. Foods and Habits to Limit

While no food needs to be completely eliminated, certain choices are best to be limited for long-term health:

• Processed and red meats: bacon, deli meat, hot dogs, beef and pork
• Sugary drinks: pop, sweetened coffee drinks, energy drinks
• Ultra-processed foods: take-out or frozen ready-to-eat meals, packaged snacks

Choosing whole or minimally processed foods most of the time can support energy, digestion and overall recovery.

6. Supplements

Supplements cannot replace the benefits of whole foods. While some vitamins and minerals may be helpful, they should be used cautiously.

Always talk to your oncologist or a registered dietitian before taking:

• Vitamins
• Herbal products
• Natural health supplements

Some supplements can interact with your systemic cancer treatments and affect how well they work.

Nutrition Myths and Facts

Does soy increase my breast cancer risk?
Consuming moderate amounts of soy-based foods (like tofu, edamame and soy milk) does not increase the risk of developing breast cancer.

Should I cut out sugar entirely?
You do not need to eliminate all sugar. There is no evidence that sugar feeds cancer cells more than other cells. Eating lots of food high in added sugar can lead to weight gain, and excess body fat is a known risk factor for breast cancer.

Do artificial sweeteners cause cancer?
Most evidence does not show a clear link between artificial sweeteners and cancer in people. If you prefer to avoid them, choose naturally sweetened foods like fruit.

Are there superfoods that can prevent breast cancer?
No single food can prevent breast cancer. What matters most is your overall eating habits. Focusing on a balanced diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein is most important. These can support your overall health, but no individual food can prevent cancer from developing or recurring.

Is red wine safe to drink?
Red wine is often thought of as a “healthier” alcohol, but when it comes to breast cancer, no type of alcohol is considered safe. The antioxidants found in red wine, were once thought to offer protection from cancer, but these benefits are outweighed by the harm alcohol causes. These antioxidants can be found in fruits and vegetables. Alcohol increases breast cancer risk regardless of the type of drink consumed.

Learn More

• The Role of Naturopathic Medicine in Reducing your Risk of a Breast Cancer Recurrence: Webinar with Dr. Craig Herrington
• Diet and Cancer Prevention Factsheet, World Cancer Research Fund
• Eating Well When You Have Cancer, Canadian Cancer Society
• Nutrition Information, BC Cancer

The Canadian Cancer Society has a database that can be used to find local support services in your area. You can access it below:

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