The Puerto Rican delicacy that lowers breast cancer risk 67 percent

If you think your diet contains a lot of onions and garlic because you have garlic bread once a week and enjoy the occasional Awesome Blossom from Chili’s, think again.

Puerto Ricans eat far more onions and garlic than other Americans. In fact, it’s not uncommon for Puerto Ricans to eat onions and garlic every single day. They have them in stews. They have them in rice and bean dishes. And most importantly, they have them in a popular Puerto Rican sauce called sofrito.

Sofrito contains green pepper, a pepper called aji dulce, cilantro, an herb called recao, and of course, onions and garlic. Now, you may know that onions and garlic are part of the Allium family of plants. That means they contain powerful compounds proven to fight cancer.

What effect does eating so many amazing alliums have on Puerto Ricans? A good one…

In fact, it’s probably why Puerto Ricans are way less likely to get breast cancer than us mainland Americans.

More onions and garlic means less breast cancer

A new study from the University at Buffalo and the University of Puerto Rico shows that Puerto Ricans who eat lots of onion and garlic have a lower risk of breast cancer than those who don’t.

The study included 314 women with breast cancer and 346 without. Researchers followed their health and diet habits for six years. Here were the big takeaways:

• The more garlic and onions women ate, the lower their breast cancer risk
• Women who ate sofrito daily had a 67 percent lower breast cancer risk than women who never ate it

Now, it’s an established fact that breast cancer rates are lower in Puerto Rico than they are in mainland America. And now researchers may know why…

It’s probably all the onion and garlic Puerto Ricans eat.

Related: My favorite cancer-fighting recipe (sofrito)

I mentioned earlier that Allium vegetables contain compounds known to fight cancer. The compounds that did the heavy lifting, in this case, were sulfuric compounds like S-allyl cysteine, diallyl sulfide, diallyl disulfide and alk(en)yl cysteine sulfoxides.

“These compounds show anticarcinogenic properties in humans, as well as in experimental animal studies,” said Lina Mu, the study’s senior author, who is an associate professor of epidemiology and environmental health at the University of Buffalo.

Make your own breast-cancer fighting sofrito

So, if you’re ready to reduce your breast cancer risk in the years to come, you need to take a page out of the Puerto Rican (cook)book…

Eat lots of onions and garlic.

Related: In the kitchen with Kelley: Garlic roasted mushrooms

There are plenty of ways to squeeze more onions and garlic into your diet — add them to salads, soups, stews, pasta dishes, casseroles, burgers or anything else that floats your boat.

If you’re feeling adventurous and confident in your cooking chops, you could even try making Puerto Rican sofrito yourself. Here’s a simple Puerto Rican sofrito recipe to get you started.

Sources:

1. Onions and garlic may be recipe for reducing breast cancer risk: study — MedicalXpress
2. Onion and Garlic Intake and Breast Cancer, a Case-Control Study in Puerto Rico — Nutrition and Cancer