Dietary fat, fat subtypes, and breast cancer in postmenopausal women: a prospective cohort study

The intake of total dietary fat and of certain fat subtypes has been shown to be strongly associated with breast cancer in international comparisons and in animal experiments. However, observational epidemiologic studies have generally reported either weak positive or no associations. To extend the prospective epidemiologic evidence on this question, we examined the association between adult dietary intake of fat, fat subtypes, and breast cancer in a large, prospective cohort of postmenopausal women.

Participants were selected from a national breast cancer mammography screening program conducted from 1973 through 1981 at 29 centers throughout the United States. From 1987 through 1989, 40022 postmenopausal women satisfactorily completed a mailed, self-administered questionnaire that included a 60-item National Cancer Institute/Block food-frequency questionnaire. Women were then followed for an average of 5.3 years; 996 women developed breast cancer. Risk was assessed by use of Cox proportional hazard regression, with age as the underlying time metric. All statistical tests were two-sided.

Compared with women in the lowest quintile (Q1) of percentage of energy from total fat, the adjusted risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for women in the highest quintile (Q5) was 1.07 (95% CI = 0.86-1.32). In analyses stratified by history of benign breast disease (BBD), a positive association was observed among only women with no history of BBD (RR (Q5 versus Q1) = 2.20; 95% CI = 1.41-3.42; test for trend, P =.0003). The increased risk in these women appeared to be attributable to unsaturated fat intake and oleic acid in particular.

In this study, there was no overall association between fat intake during adulthood and breast cancer risk; however, among women with no history of BBD, there appeared to be a positive association between total and unsaturated fat intake and breast cancer risk.