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Breast Cancer Risk and Fat Intake: Puzzling Findings

Eating large amounts of red meat and high-fat dairy products may raise the risk of breast cancer in young women, according to a recent study. The researchers say their findings should give young women one more reason to cut back on these foods and eat more poultry, fish, fruits and vegetables instead.

Study author Eunyoung Cho, ScD said her findings are, "good news" because women can change the amount of animal fat they consume to lower their risk for breast cancer. Eating less red meat and high-fat dairy is also healthy for the heart, noted Cho, of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

The relationship of fat intake to breast cancer is puzzling for researchers. Some studies have found that certain types of fat are associated with a higher risk of breast cancer, but other investigations have not found the same link. And few of these studies have included many younger, premenopausal women, who may have different risk factors than older women.

Cho and colleagues decided to focus on this group of women because little is known about how fat intake in early adulthood may affect breast cancer risk.

They studied more than 90,000 premenopausal women between the ages of 26 and 46 who were already participating in the Nurses' Health Study II, a large investigation of lifestyle and health involving nurses from across the United States. The researchers asked the women about their diets -- how often they consumed different types of food -- and used that information to calculate how much fat each woman ate. They published their findings in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (Vol. 95, No. 14: 1079-1085).

Over the course of the study, from 1991 to 1995, 714 women developed breast cancer. After controlling for other risk factors like smoking, body weight, and family history of breast cancer, the researchers calculated the risk of breast cancer associated with dietary fat.

Vegetable fat, like the kind found in olive oil or avocados, did not raise breast cancer risk. But animal fat, like that found in red meat and full-fat dairy products such as cheese and butter, did. Women who ate the most of this type of fat had a slightly higher risk of breast cancer than women who ate the least.

"We were surprised (by this finding) because previous studies haven't found this (association)," Cho said.

The researchers couldn't explain why eating more animal fat was associated with breast cancer risk. It may be that factors other than fat are involved. For instance, grilling red meat can create cancer-causing chemicals, and high-fat dairy products contain growth factors that could affect breast cancer risk. More research is needed to tease out the specific ways different food components act on risk, Cho said.

Marji McCullough, ScD, RD, a nutritional epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society, agreed more research is needed, as most previous studies in older women have not seen a relationship between fat and breast cancer. "We need to learn more about when diet may be most important in influencing breast cancer risk, and that means we need more studies that assess exposure early in life, like during adolescence or young adulthood," she said. Such studies would take decades to complete, she noted.

So does this mean women should skip the steak and shun ice cream? Not entirely.

"We're not talking about being vegetarian," Cho said. Women can substitute fish or poultry for red meat, low-fat dairy for full-fat, and olive oil for butter, she said.

The American Cancer Society's nutrition guidelines also recommend limiting the amount of red meat (beef, pork, lamb) in the diet, especially fatty cuts or processed meats. Better choices are fish, poultry or beans. In addition, ACS recommends eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

Women can also reduce their risk of breast cancer by maintaining a healthy weight, engaging in regular exercise, and limiting their consumption of alcohol. Regular screening according to ACS guidelines is another important aspect of breast health.