Nutritional aspects of mammary carcinogenesis: a case-control study

Dietary factors are believed to play an important role in mammary carcinogenesis. International correlations, case-control and cohort studies have associated the incidence and mortality from breast cancer with high fat consumption in the form of meat, gravy and dairy products. Most of these studies have been conducted in the developed countries. Due to paucity of data from developing countries, we conducted a case-control study to evaluate the role of nutritional factors in mammary carcinogenesis. This prospective study was conducted in the oncology clinic at a university hospital. On a detailed questionnaire, information was collected from 80 patients with histologically proven breast cancer (cases) and 80 normal healthy subjects (controls). Information was collected on several patients characteristics as well as intake of 44 different food items. Special care was taken to exclude any recent changes in diet, induced in cases since learning the diagnosis of breast cancer. Interviews were conducted by the same interviewer and lasted approximately 20 minutes. Analysis of data reveal no significant difference in patients characteristics between cases and controls. Similarly, no significant difference was found in the intake of most dietary items including meat and dairy products. However, a significant difference was observed in the consumption of fish, vegetable and fruits (P = 0.05). We conclude that our study fails to support the fat-breast cancer hypothesis. It also suggests a potential role of other dietary items such as fish, vegetables and fruits in mammary carcinogenesis.