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Breast Cancer Screening and Prevention

Red Meat, Dairy May Increase Breast Cancer Risk

Eating a diet high in red meat may increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer, a new study suggests.

Prior research has been inconclusive about the relationship between fat intake and breast cancer, but a new study reveals some evidence that a high fat intake from animal products may be an active player in one’s risk of developing breast cancer.

“We observed that there was a high risk of breast cancer among women who ate foods rich in animal fat, such as red meat, cheese, ice-cream and butter during their 20s, 30s and 40s,” said Eunyoung Cho, lead researcher for the study, which was published in the Journal of the National Breast Cancer Institute.

For the study, Cho and colleagues looked at the eating habits of over 90,000 women between the ages of 26 and 46 for an eight year period. Over the course of the study, 714 of the women developed invasive breast cancer. Compiling the results of their nutritional information, the researchers discovered that those women who consumed the highest levels of animal fats had a 33 percent greater risk of breast cancer.

The risk of breast cancer seemed greatest for those women who consumed red meat and high-fat dairy foods, but there was no association between breast cancer risk and the consumption of vegetable fats.

Cho believes that her study is more conclusive than previous ones because her study included younger women than those typically included in breast cancer research. Therefore, according to her work, maintaining a diet low in animal fats prior to menopause is key in reducing your risk of breast cancer.

“Considering the causes of this disease vary depending on menopausal status, the relation between dietary fat intake and breast cancer risk may be different in younger women, a group that hasn’t been studied previously,” said Cho.

Cho hopes that this study gives women one more reason to adopt a healthy diet while they are young. “We have long known that replacing animals fats with non-hydrogenated vegetable oils will reduce the risk of heart disease,” she said. “Now, more women may be encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle earlier to prevent breast cancer.”