Fatty diet link to breast cancer

[Caano Geel]

A major study appears to provide hard evidence that eating a high-fat diet increases a postmenopausal woman's risk of breast cancer.

 

Animal research has found a high fat intake boosts cancer risk, but other studies in humans were inconclusive.

 

This work, by the National Cancer Institute, asked 188,700 women about their diets, and found a link between breast cancer and eating more fat.

 

UK breast cancer campaigners said women should eat a healthy diet. All the women in the US study were aged between 50 and 71 when they became involved in the research.

 

The US researchers asked the women, who were all postmenopausal, how often they ate 124 different foods, ranging from never to up to six times a day, and about the portion size.

 

The women were then followed up for an average of four years.

The amount of fat the women took in was measured as a percentage of their total energy intake, ranging from 20% in the fifth which ate least fat to 40% in the fifth that ate most.

 

Out of all the women surveyed, 3,501 developed invasive breast cancer during the course of the research.

 

Those who ate the most fat had an 11% higher incidence of breast cancer than those who ate the least.

 

The increase in risk was similar whether the women were eating saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats.

 

Taking into account family history of breast cancer, smoking, body mass index and alcohol intake did not affect the results.

 

However, those women with the highest fat intake were more likely to have been taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) - which has been linked to breast cancer - when they joined the study.

 

Writing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the authors, led by Dr Annie Thiebaut, said: "In this large cohort of postmenopausal US women, we detected a direct association between dietary fat intake and the risk of invasive breast cancer."

 

They suggest the reason other studies have sometimes failed to find the link is because they did not have participants who obtained 20% or less of their energy from fat, making it harder to establish the difference.

 

And they suggest fat may affect breast cancer risk by stimulating hormone production.

 

The researchers say more work is needed to further understand the risk.

 

 

But in an editorial in the same journal, Stephanie Smith-Warner and Meir Stampfer, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said it was more important to control the amount of body fat a woman had, rather than her fat intake in order to prevent breast cancer.

 

They added: "The modest associations that have been observed for dietary fat and breast cancer risk in observational studies and clinical trials stand in sharp contrast to the robust evidence for a strong link between [body fat] and the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer."

 

Dr Emma Pennery, nurse consultant at the UK charity Breast Cancer Care, said: "The effects of a high fat diet on a woman's risk of developing breast cancer are still uncertain.

 

"Whilst this research adds to existing evidence in this area, other studies have not reached the same conclusions so we are still some way off understanding its exact influence."

 

She added: "However a high fat diet can lead to

weight gain and it is widely accepted that being overweight, particularly after the menopause, does increase the risk of breast cancer."

 

Dr Sarah Rawlings, head of policy and information at Breakthrough Breast Cancer added: "Whether you have been through the menopause or not, being overweight is associated with a variety of health problems, including increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and several types of cancer.

 

"Maintaining a healthy weight throughout life can help reduce the risk of many diseases as well as promoting good health."

 

source

[Naden]

Originally posted by Caano Geel:

However, those women with the highest fat intake were more likely to have been taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) - which has been linked to breast cancer - when they joined the study.

The problem with some of these correlational studies is that you can't tease so many of the variables apart. Especially when you believe that they behave synergistically. I could see why a high fat diet would contribute to a raised risk of breast cancer since fat cells tend to add estrogen to the body, which in turn fuels estrogen dependent tumours.

 

HRT's showing it carries much greater harm than benefit. There also seem to be little gains in bone health as it was sold to women in the 70s and 80s.

 

It is a mighty mess and will only get worse as preadolescent and adolescent girls get heavier and expose their bodies to greater amounts of estrogen over a longer period of time.

[Caano Geel]

Yes Naden, you are right wrt the correlation problem. But your would hope that by the time it comes to a publication, the correlation they mention is actually significant.

[-Lily-]

I'm not suprised, being fat is bad all round since it's linked to almost every healt risk. I think genes are the biggest tell tale in terms of prevention, if there is such a thing.

[Blessed]

I agree with Naden, you have to take these studies with a pinch of milix.

 

Only last month, I was reading about the findings of another study which indicates that women who have atleast one serving of high fat dairy food were 27% less likely to suffer from infertility problems.

[Naden]

Caano Geel, I don't doubt the significance of the correlation at all. I've actually read a few publications and the evidence is compelling. A high fat diet is a serious risk factor for breast cancer and a number of other gynecological cancers.

 

My only wish would have been better study designs, especially when they have been aware for the past 3-4 years that HRT increased breast cancer risk dramatically. If the focus now is on a poor diet, then concluding that women who eat lots of fat are at serious risk for bc yet adding that most were on HRT adds little value to the research question at hand.

[Caano Geel]

Yes, the study does not separate HRT and diet well at all. However i would hazard a guess and say that this a data sample related problem. Typically most studies i have seen produce inclusive results nit because the significance is not strong but the sample size is too small to have confidence in. ...

[roobleh]

about a year ago I read another study that suggested women who are fat are less likely to have breast cancer than lean women. So, it is always good to know who has sponsored and paying for the study. Is it mcdonalds or jenny craig!

[Cara.]

Roobleh, The study you read sounds like it involved younger women, who are indeed less likely to have breast cancer if they were overweight as children and teens. But becoming overweight as adults (especially after menopause) seems to correlate with a higher risk.

 

Is that complicated or what?

[roobleh]

Cara, I think you're right about the study being involved in younger women. Thanks for reminding me that.

 

Where science research is hurting the most is when it is involved in dieting. There are many confusing results coming from those researches. How many times we've to hear contradicting conclusions on the correlation between fatty foods and weight gain.

 

Have you heard that drinking whole milk (not skim milk)will help you lose weight?

I am still trying to remember where I saw (during the last month)that article.