Controversy about diet and breast cancer

May 25, 1999
Web posted at: 10:05 AM EDT (1405 GMT)

In this story: Pieces of the Puzzle Two sides, one coin Other risks Moving forward RELATEDS

By Cathy Lu

(WebMD) -- The next time you think about grilling a steak or ordering that cheesecake, you may want to think again. These are the foods to which some scientists attribute the skyrocketing incidence of breast cancer in the United States.

One-in-eight women living in the United States will be stricken with breast cancer. But are the fatty foods that lurk in your fridge really the villains?

There is much debate about this topic, and the abounding number of studies do little to clear the air.

Pieces of the Puzzle

Two sides, one coin

Currently, the rate of breast cancer in the United States is five times higher than in Asia. Yet there are skeptics in the medical community who want to see some cold, hard evidence before they draw any conclusions. Dr. Arthur Michel is one of them.

"Are you going to tell me that there are no other environmental factors that are any different between China and the United States other than diet?" says Michel, medical director of the Breast Center for Highland Park Hospital in Illinois. "Uncontrolled speculation is not scientific." He suggests that such factors as pesticides may be skewing the statistics.

So how do scientists who believe in the correlation between diet and breast cancer explain studies that indicate otherwise? Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, claims that those studies merely prove that minor changes like cutting back on burgers and Ben & Jerry's don't help the fight against breast cancer.

Other risks

What naysayers are willing to acknowledge right now is a tie between obesity and breast cancer, although there are other factors, such as menopause and hormone replacement therapy, that can skew an analysis. Research indicates that more body fat increases the production of estrogen, which has been known to fuel the growth of cancer cells.

"I think that being overweight probably has more hazard built into it than anything you could do dietwise," says Michel. "Women who are morbidly obese have much more breast cancer than women who are not."

Moving forward

A number of studies are currently underway to try to break the impasse over the diet debate.

In 2010 the Women's Health Initiative will introduce the results of a trial studying 164,000 women to determine whether a diet high in fruits, vegetables and grains will lead to fewer cases of breast cancer. There are also a number of molecular studies attempting to isolate various factors that may cause breast cancer.

In the end it's a controversy on which scientists won't easily give up. "Regardless of where you fall on the debate," says Michael Kilgore, a Clemson University researcher who is trying to isolate fats that may trigger breast cancer, "the question is far too important not to continue to study."

RELATEDS AT :

Breast Cancer
What Causes Breast Cancer?
Gene-Defying Diets
Halt Heart Disease or Beat Breast Cancer? A Woman's Quandary

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RELATED SITES:

National Cancer Institute
Message Board: Breast Cancer: Open Discussion
Message Board: Breast Cancer: Ask a Practitioner

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