Postmenopausal Asian women who eat
a Western-type diet have an increased risk of breast cancer compared with peers
who eat a vegetable-soy-based diet
Postmenopausal Asian women who eat a Western-type, meat-carbohydrate-based
diet have an increased risk of breast cancer compared with peers who eat a traditional,
vegetable-soy-based diet, according to an article in the July issue of Cancer
Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. The study is the first to identify
an association between a Western diet and breast cancer in Asian women.
The current work involved women in the Shanghai Breast
Cancer Study. Eligible cases included 1,602 women 25 to 64 years of age who with
a new diagnosis of breast cancer made between August 1996 and March 1998; in-person
interviews were conducted for 1,459 (91.1%). Controls were selected from the Shanghai
Resident Registry of permanent residents in urban Shanghai; in-person interviews
were conducted for 1,556 (90.3%) of 1,724 eligible controls.
“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, PhD, a coauthor and associate member
in the population science division at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.
Through in-person interviews with Shanghai study participants
and residents of Shanghai, researchers established the existence of two primary
dietary patterns-the “meat-sweet” diet and a “vegetable-soy” diet. The “meat-sweet”
diet includes various meats-primarily 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 associated with different
vegetables, soy-based products, and freshwater fish.
The Western pattern was significantly associated with
increased risk of breast cancer among overweight postmenopausal women. Specifically,
high intake was associated with a greater than two-fold increased risk of estrogen-receptor-positive
(ER+) breast cancer. The results showed no overall association of breast cancer
risk with the traditional 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.”
|