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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Too much fat in your diet may increase your risk for breast cancer, according to new findings.
The newly released National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study was based on detailed dietary questionnaires from 188,736 postmenopausal women in the mid-1990s. By follow-up, an average of 4.4 years later, 3,501 of the women polled developed breast cancer.
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For the study, women responded to a 124-item food frequency questionnaire. Those who consumed 40 percent of daily calories from fat had about a 15 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer than the women who got 20 percent of their calories from fat.
Researchers report all types of fat increased the risk -- saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. And the risk appeared to be limited to women who were not taking hormone replacement therapy when the study began. They admit more research is necessary to explore the role of hormone therapy in the relation to dietary fat intake and breast cancer risk.
In reference to the NIH study, researchers from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston say controlling body fat, rather than fat intake, could be a more effective way to prevent breast cancer.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2007;99:451-462
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