New study finds onion and garlic may reduce one's risk of breast cancer

A recent study from the University of Buffalo and the University of Puerto Rico has found that garlic and onions could help lower one's risk of breast cancer by 67 percent. The two are essential ingredients in sofrito, a popular condiment from Puerto Rico, where the study was focused.

The island was of particular interest for lead researcher Gauri Desai and his team because of the low rates of breast cancer amongst the island population. "Puerto Rico has lower breast cancer rates, compared to the mainland [United States], which makes it an important population to study," he explained of the research, which was published in the journal Nutrition and Cancer.

As explained by Desai, women in Puerto Rico eat much more garlic and onion because of sofrito in particular, which can be found in everything from stews to rice and bean dishes.

Learn how to use sofrito in the video above or buy your own here.

Previous research has shown that the two ingredients, in addition to those belonging to the allium family, do possess protective qualities against cancer due to their antioxidant and enzyme-producing properties that deactivate carcinogens.

Specifically, Desai's study included the participation of 314 women between the ages of 30 and 79 who had breast cancer between 2008 and 2014 as well as a control group consisting of 346 participants, all of whom had no history of cancer besides nonmelanoma skin cancer.

Using a questionnaire, the participants disclosed their dietary patterns, including garlic, onion and sofrito consumption. Researchers then adjusted for varying factors to determine the association between breast cancer occurrence and sofrito consumption, discovering an association between moderately high onion and garlic consumption and the disease.

While there were limitations to the study, due to its size and variability of sofrito recipes, researchers still concluded that "sofrito intake, when examined alone, was inversely associated with breast cancer."

"For those consuming sofrito more than once/day, there was a 67 percent decrease in risk, compared to never consumers," they added.