Medical breakthroughs: more legumes, less iron to cut cancer risk; HRT and incontinence; and how to take your green tea

Dining on beans or lentils could reduce your risk of breast cancer, concludes a study in the International Journal of Cancer. Of the 90,630 women participating in the Nurses Health Study II, those who ate 1/2 cup of the legumes twice a week were 24 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than women who consumed them less than once a month. The protection may come from a type of flavanol in beans and lentils, says study author Clement Adebamowo, M.D.

Hormone therapy increases the incidence of incontinence, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. An analysis of data from the Women's Health Initiative determined that receiving hormone replacement therapy during menopause increased the frequency of stress, urge, and mixed types of incontinence up to twofold.

Too much iron resulting from accumulation of the mineral in your body combined with an excess intake of dietary iron may raise your risk of cancer. A study in the Annals of Family Medicine found that participants who store above-average amounts of iron and consumed more than the recommended daily allowance of iron were twice as likely to develop cancer than people with normal iron stores and low consumption. The RDA for women 31 to 50 is 18 mg daily; for men 31 to 50, it's 8 mg.

The antioxidants in green tea are better absorbed in supplements than in the brew, allowing for high doses without the caffeine jitters. In a study at the University of California, Los Angeles, 30 healthy men and women each drank a large cup of black or green tea, or instead took 462 milligrams of green tea polyphenols containing equal amounts of flavanols. Absorption of the polyphenols from the green tea pills was higher, leading to a small but significant boost in blood antioxidant activity.

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