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Low-fat Diet Linked to Reduced Breast Cancer Risk
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Modest changes in diet can prevent breast cancer from returning, according to a study presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Researchers found that women with non-hormonal breast cancer benefited from a low-fat diet, while those with hormone-fueled cancer were not affected.
Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer deaths in women today. Over one million people worldwide will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Non hormone responsive breast cancer accounts for about 30% of all breast cancers.
The multi-site study involved nearly 2,500 women with early stage breast cancer who were receiving conventional treatment.. About half of the women were told to continue with their regular diet, which consisted of about 52 grams of fat per day. The rest were advised to cut their daily fat intake to around 33 grams of fat or 20% of their daily caloric intake . The diet group lost five to six pounds during the study.
Up to seven years later there was no significant difference overall between the two groups in terms of cancer recurrence. However, in the subgroup of women with non hormonal tumors there was an astounding 66% lower risk of death in the low-fat diet group and the recurrence rates were cut by more than half.
It’s not yet known whether the benefit was due to weight loss, improvement in diet, or some other factor. Earlier studies have not shown a link between fat reduction and reduced breast cancer risk, but experts suggest that reducing fat beyond a certain threshold may be important.
Further research is needed to pinpoint how cutting fat from the diet affects cancer risk. In the meantime, following a low-fat diet may be one way to reduce the risk of certain types of breast cancers.
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