High Fat Diet Linked to Higher Breast Cancer Risk in Women

Every year women are diagnosed with breast cancer. It is something that too many people and there families have to deal with every year. Even though this disease is mainly diagnosed in women, men can be diagnosed as well. Every year, according to the National Cancer Institute, 2,300 men and 230,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer. There is a 12.3% chance of all women being diagnosed with this disease at some point in their lifetime as stated by the SEER stat facts posted by the National Cancer Institute.

Over the years, the death rate of those with a definite diagnoses of breast cancer has dropped since its highest peak in the early 1990's and that number continues to go down every year with new advances in research. While there are many causes of breast cancer from genetics to reproduction to body weight and age, there are studies being done to determine if a diet that is high in fat can cause one to have a higher risk of breast cancer.

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These studies are also looking to see if the intake of fats is causing a more lethal type of breast cancer. Researchers look at both total and saturated fat intakes when gathering the information for the studies.

One study that was conducted was assessed every 4 years with a semi-quarterly questionnaire that determined food frequencies. This study was started in the 1980's and went well into the 2000's. (Boeke) The study included three groups of women; lethal breast cancer, non-lethal cancer, and women without breast cancer.

The study concluded that there wasn't a link between fat intake and hoe lethal the cancer was, and they also didn't find a connection to fat causing a woman to be a higher risk of cancer. Some fats such as monosaturated and polysaturated fats were extremely beneficial to long-term health.

Even though the study found no clear link to how lethal the cancer is or breast cancer survival, it did find that those that have a higher fat intake are women who don't exercise regularly and have a higher BMI. These types of women are less likely to get a regular mammogram done. This combination of body health and a lack of regular check ups put these women at a higher risk for breast cancer. Another study was done (Farvid), this one started out with the same intention of connecting fat intake with a higher risk of breast cancer, only this one look at women in the pre and post menopausal stages of life. It is a more narrow study and in the end there was a modestly higher risk of breast cancer in those with a higher intake of animal fat. This study not only kept a record of food intake, but they also assessed other variables such as age, height, weight, family history, whether they smoked or not, etc. (Farvid)

They then split the women up according to whether they were pre or post menopausal. In the results, it showed that of the 88,804 women, there were a total 2,830 cases of breast cancer. 1,511 cases were premenopausal breast cancer, 918 cases were postmenopausal breast cancer, and 401 cases were labeled as uncertain of their menopausal status. (Farvid) This study by Farvid concluded that for women for different menopausal status had a different association with the fat intake. There was an overall positive association between animal fat intake and breast cancer.

This wasn't always the case even thought woment that were premenopausal had a positive connection to the animal fat intake, while women that were postmenopausal has a negative connection. This study also states that higher intakes of certain fats, such as saturated and monosaturated, both had a connection with modestly high-risk breast cancer in all women. The same association was made with premenopausal women and high cholesterol intake. (Farvid) The overall finding of the study suggested a positive association with early adults consuming animal fat and breast cancer. Both of these studies show a slight connection between breast cancer and ones fat intake. While the one suggests that those that women who have a higher BMI and exercise less are at a higher risk of breast cancer and they also happen to be the ones that have a higher fat intake. The other suggests that depending on what stage you are in in your life will determine how your fat intake will affect your risk of breast cancer.