Women with diets rich in fish, poultry, nuts and legumes, and less amounts of red meat may have a reduced risk of developing cancer, according to new research.

To date, no study has strongly suggested a significant link between the consumption of high amounts of red meat and breast cancer. Previously, most researchers studied the importance of diet during the middle-age years and beyond.

A team of U.S. researchers examined the possible link between dietary protein sources in early adulthood and the risk of developing breast cancer.

They investigated data from 88,803 premenopausal women between the ages of 26 and 45 who completed a questionnaire on diet as part of the Nurses’ Health Study II in 1991. After a 20-year follow-up, medical records identified 2,830 cases of breast cancer.

The researchers estimated the risk of breast cancer with different diets and suggested that, for each step-by-step increase in the consumption of red meat, there was also a step-by-step rise in the risk of developing breast cancer.

In comparison, postmenopausal women who consumed higher levels of poultry and fish in place of red meat showed a reduced risk of developing the disease. Simply substituting one serving of red meat with a serving of poultry was linked to a 17 percent reduced risk of breast cancer.

The U.S.-based researchers concluded that lowering the intake of red meat and increasing the consumption of poultry, fish, legumes and nuts can lower the risk of breast cancer.