High Fat Diet: It Makes Food Taste Great and It Increases Breast Cancer Rate

More evidence links high-fat diets to a modest increase in breast cancer risk among older women.

A large study, reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, of middle-age women with a wide range of fat in their diet shows that eating a high-fat diet raises the risk of developing breast cancer.

The study was done by the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study, in which 188,736 postmenopausal women reported detailed information on their diet in the mid-1990s. In the largest study ever to address the issue, researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) -AARP Diet and Health Study asked 188,736 postmenopausal women about the foods they ate and then followed the women for an average of 4.4 years. 3501 women developed breast cancer.

Study Shows Modest Increase in Breast Cancer Risk for Postmenopausal Women

They found that women whose diets included the 40% or more fat were 15% more likely to develop breast cancer than women who ate the least fat (20 of less of their calories from fat). The association was seen both in women who were overweight and those of normal weight.

One part of the study, using a more detailed 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire, "we found a 32% increased risk of breast cancer" among women with a high level of fats in their diet according to the study chief Dr. Anne C. M. Thiebaut. According to the Reuters News Service.

The study seemed to be restricted to women who were not using hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The suggestion that hormone therapy mediates the association between dietary fat intake and risk of breast cancer should be studied further, the authors suggest.Other studies have also found that fat intake increased the higher your risk for breast cancer.

Focus on Weight Loss Instead of High Fat Diet

Researchers also commented that an emphasis on controlling body fat, rather than fat intake, should be promoted as a more effective way of preventing breast cancer.
Much more evidence links body fat breast cancer.

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, March 21, 2007.
 

Looking for ephedra products?  copyright 2005 Ephedra Products