Postmenopausal Asian women who eat a meat-sweet or Western diet are at greater risk of developing breast cancer than those who eat a vegetable-soy diet, as per a new study. The findings mark the first time an association between a Western diet and breast cancer has been identified in Asian women.

The study, reported in the recent issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, involved women in the Shanghai Breast Cancer Study. Eligible cases included all women 25 to 64 years of age who with a new diagnosis of breast cancer from August 1996 to March 1998. Controls were selected from the Shanghai Resident Registry of permanent residents in urban Shanghai.

The issue [of diet] is of particular relevance to women in Asia, for whom breast cancer rates are traditionally low but increasing steadily in recent years, explained Marilyn Tseng, Ph.D., an associate member in the population science division at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

The transition in breast cancer risk has been attributed to environmental factors, possibly the incorporation of Western dietary pattern foods into traditional dietary habits as a part of broader, societal socioeconomic changes. However, the association of dietary patterns with breast cancer risk has not been studied previously in Asian women.

Through in-person interviews with the Shanghai study participants and residents of Shanghai, scientists established the existence of two primary dietary patternsthe meat-sweet diet and a vegetable-soy diet. The meat-sweet diet includes various meatsprimarily pork but also poultry, organ meats, beef and lamb and with saltwater fish, shrimp and other shellfish as well as candy, dessert, bread and milk. The vegetable-soy pattern is linked to different vegetables, soy-based products, and freshwater fish.

Of 1,602 eligible breast cancer cases identified during the study period, in-person interviews were completed for 1,459 (91.1%). In-person interviews were completed for 1,556 (90.3%) of the 1,724 eligible controls.

The meat-sweet pattern was significantly linked to increased risk of breast cancer among overweight postmenopausal women. Specifically, high intake of the meat-sweet pattern was linked to a greater than twofold increased risk of estrogen-receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer among these women. The results showed no overall association of breast cancer risk with the vegetable-soy pattern.

Our study suggests the possibility that the meat-sweet pattern increased breast cancer risk by increasing obesity, Tseng said. Low consumption of a Western dietary pattern plus successful weight control may protect against breast cancer in a traditionally low-risk Asian population that is poised to more broadly adopt foods characteristic of Western societies.


Posted by: Betsy    Source

---