A large, prospective study of premenopausal women suggests that high intake of animal fat, especially from red meat and dairy products, is associated with an increase in risk of breast cancer. The study appeared in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Eunyoung Cho, Sc.D., of the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues examined the relationship between dietary fat intake and breast cancer risk among 90,655 premenopausal women ages 26 to 46 who were participating in the Nurses' Health Study II. The women completed questionnaires about how frequently they consumed certain foods and were followed for 8 years.

During the follow-up period, 714 women developed invasive breast cancer. Women who consumed the highest amounts of fat had a slightly higher risk of breast cancer than women who consumed the smallest amounts of fat. The increase was associated with intake of animal fat (red meat and high-fat dairy foods) and not vegetable fat. Intakes of both saturated and monounsaturated fat were associated with modest elevations in breast cancer risk.

SOURCE:
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, July 16, 2003