A women's diet

Doctors are working to determine if a woman's diet could improve her chances of surviving cancer.

Doctors will now be working on project to determine if a woman's diet could improve her chances of surviving breast cancer.

According to a report in The Daily Mail, Margaret Ritchie, a medical expert from St Andrews University is geared up to launch the two-year project to investigate a possible link between certain foods and breast cancer.

During the project , Ritchie will examine whether diet could dictate women's likelihood of developing the disease, the size and aggressiveness of tumours in sufferers and their reaction to cancer treatments.

"We already know that diet influences the incidence of many cancers, but little is known about the effect of diet on the characteristics of cancers which actually develop," she was quoted by the report as saying.

"Ultimately, this work could improve a woman's survival rate and give her a much better prognosis," she added.

Ritchie will also try to establish whether exposure to phyto-oestrogens found in high levels in foods including wholemeal bread, soya yoghurt, raisins and other fruit has the ability to reduce the risk of breast cancer recurring.

The study will reportedly examine two groups of women, those suffering from breast cancer and those who have opted for breast reduction and are free from the disease and will also involve analysis of blood and urine samples and tumour tissue.

Other risk factors such as the use of oral contraceptives, family history of breast cancer and number of children, will also be taken into account during the study, the report says.