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Scientists have been striving to link diet to breast cancer risk for years. Finally a large epidemiological study in Europe has come up with a few foods to avoid. More than 350,000 women in 10 countries participated in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, which lasted nearly a decade. Women who ate the most processed meat had a risk 10 percent above baseline. Premenopausal women who ate the most butter were 28 percent more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer.
The headlines for the story are a little conflicted as to the data.
I quote the end of the study results.
"Conclusions: We have not consistently identified intakes of meat, eggs, or dairy products as risk factors for breast cancer. Future studies should investigate the possible role of high-temperature cooking in the relation of red meat intake with breast cancer risk."
Terrytom
So a vegetarian diet is best?
Reading the little paragraph on the subject of the cancer study leads one to believe that there is a positive and direct link between the occurrence of breast cancer and the mentioned foods eaten. When the results of the actual study are read (see below) it is seen that the links are very inconclusive. It would have been good to mention this in the paragraph as I would think people do not often read further.
"Results: Breast cancer cases (n = 7119) were observed during 8.8 y (median) of follow-up. No consistent association was found between breast cancer risk and the consumption of any of the food groups under study, when analyzed by both categorical and continuous exposure variable models. High processed meat consumption was associated with a modest increase in breast cancer risk in the categorical model (hazard ratio: 1.10; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.20; highest compared with lowest quintile: P for trend = 0.07). Subgroup analyses suggested an association with butter consumption, limited to premenopausal women (hazard ratio: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.53; highest compared with lowest quintile: P for trend = 0.21). Between-country heterogeneity was found for red meat (Q statistic = 18.03; P = 0.05) and was significantly explained (P = 0.023) by the proportion of meat cooked at high temperature.
Conclusions: We have not consistently identified intakes of meat, eggs, or dairy products as risk factors for breast cancer. Future studies should investigate the possible role of high-temperature cooking in the relation of red meat intake with breast cancer risk."