Review
Does diet affect breast cancer risk?
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* Corresponding author: Michelle D Holmes michelle.holmes@channing.harvard.edu
1 Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
2 Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
3 Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Breast Cancer Res 2004, 6:170-178 doi:10.1186/bcr909
Published: 17 June 2004Abstract
The role of specific dietary factors in breast cancer causation is not completely resolved. Results from prospective studies do not support the concept that fat intake in middle life has a major relation to breast cancer risk. However, weight gain in middle life contributes substantially to breast cancer risk. Alcohol is the best established dietary risk factor, probably by increasing endogenous estrogen levels. Hypotheses relating diet during youth to risk decades later will be difficult to test. Nevertheless, available evidence is strong that breast cancer risk can be reduced by avoiding weight gain during adult years, and by limiting alcohol consumption.