Dietary Fat Intake and Risk for Postmenopausal Breast Cancer

Although data suggest that fat intake is associated with invasive breast cancer risk in some groups, other modifiable risk factors probably should be the primary points of emphasis in older women.

Several environmental and dietary factors have been implicated in risk for breast cancer. Particularly prominent on this list is dietary fat. Results of animal studies and human case-control and cohort studies, as well as pooled analyses of these, have suggested that risk for developing invasive breast cancer increases with higher percentages of energy derived from dietary fat. Nevertheless, debate (colored by the limitations of epidemiologic survey studies and potential confounders) rages on about this hypothesis.

Researchers now report on the relation between dietary fat and postmenopausal invasive breast cancer as determined from the National Institutes of Health–AARP Diet and Health Study data. This large U.S. cohort comprises 188,736 po…

Reviewing Author

William J. Gradishar, MD

Dietary Fat Intake and Risk for Postmenopausal Breast Cancer

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Reviewing Author