Breast cancer risk and fat intake

Canadian Medical Association Journal 1996; 155: 307

An international team of researchers pooled the primary data from seven major prospective cohort studies involving more than 335 000 women and representing almost 5000 incident cases of breast cancer to re-examine the putative association between high dietary fat intake and increased breast cancer risk. Multivariate analysis revealed no significant association between relative risk for breast cancer and energy-adjusted intake of total, saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, animal or vegetable fat; the finding of a slight increase in risk associated with increased cholesterol intake was inconclusive. Results were similar for pre- and postmenopausal women. Women who obtained less than 20% of their caloric energy from fat did not have a reduced risk of breast cancer compared with those whose fat intake represented 30% to less than 35% of their energy intake.

Source: Hunter DJ, Spiegelman D, Adami HO, Beeson L, van den Brandt PA, Folsom AR, et al. Cohort studies of fat intake and the risk of breast cancer: a pooled analysis. N Engl J Med 1996; 334: 356-61.

| CMAJ August 1, 1996 (vol 155, no 3) |