Breast cancer patients who eat cheese, yogurts or ice cream could HALVE their chances of survival

This is based on self-report data so is very low-quality information without controls.  Maybe the fatty food eaters were working class and less healthy because of that

One ice cream or yoghurt a day could hinder the survival of women with breast cancer, scientists say.  Those with the disease who eat a single portion daily of a product containing full-fat milk could be 50 per cent more likely to die.

US scientists suspect this is because milk and other dairy foods contain the hormone oestrogen, which encourages tumour growth.

There is already some evidence that diet plays a role in improving the chances of surviving cancer and preventing it returning. But this is the first study to show such a strong link between dairy products and breast cancer.

Around one in eight women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives and there are around 50,000 new cases a year.

Although survival chances are far better than other forms of the illness it still leads to 11,800 deaths annually.

Scientists from the Kaiser Permanente research centre in California looked at the records of 1,500 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1997 and 2000.

They had all completed questionnaires on how often they consumed dairy products, the sizes of portions and what specifically they ate.  The most common were ice cream, yogurts, cheese, full-fat lattes and hot chocolates.

The scientists found that those who ate just one portion of one of these products a day were 50 per cent more likely to die from the illness within 12 years.

They point out that most milk consumed in Britain and the U.S. comes from pregnant cows and is rich in the hormone oestrogen.  This is known to trigger tumour growth and there are particularly high levels in full-fat dairy foods.

In fact women who ate one portion of full-fat dairy a day were 64 per cent more likely to die from any cause - not just breast cancer.

Dr Bette Caan, who led the research said: 'High-fat dairy is generally not recommended as part of a healthy diet. 'Switching to low-fat dairy is an easy thing to modify.'

Many women who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer ask their doctor whether they should change their diet.

But so far there is just too little research on the subject for them to give any specific advice.

Susan Kutner, chair Kaiser Permanente Northern California Regional Breast Care Task Force, said: 'Women have been clamouring for this type of information.

'They're asking us, 'Tell me what I should eat?' With this information, we can be more specific about recommending low-fat dairy products.'

Sally Greenbrook, Senior Policy Officer at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: 'This study specifically looks at women who have already been diagnosed with breast cancer and how low or high fat dairy products may affect them.

'Any women who have had breast cancer and are concerned about their diet should discuss this with their doctors.

'For a number of health reasons it's advisable that all women should follow a healthy balanced diet. It helps you to maintain a healthy weight which, together with good practices such as lower alcohol intake and regular physical activity, can help to reduce your breast cancer risk and improve overall well-being.

'There are many risk factors for breast cancer, not just diet.' 

SOURCE







New Analysis Says Evidence Lacking for HRT-Breast Cancer Link

I said this from the beginning  -- and I have never received one cent from drug companies etc. -- JR

Although several large studies in recent years have linked the use of hormone therapy after menopause with an increased risk of breast cancer, the authors of a new analysis claim the evidence is too limited to confirm the connection.

Dr. Samuel Shapiro, of the University of Cape Town Medical School in South Africa, and his colleagues took another look at three large studies that investigated hormone therapy and its possible health risks -- the Collaborative Reanalysis, the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) and the Million Women Study.

Together, the results of these studies found overall an increased risk of breast cancer among women who used the combination form of hormone therapy with both estrogen and progesterone. Women who have had a hysterectomy and use estrogen-only therapy also have an increased risk, two of the studies found. The WHI, however, found that estrogen-only therapy may not increase breast cancer risk and may actually decrease it, although that has not been confirmed in other research.

After the WHI study was published in July 2002, women dropped hormone therapy in droves. Many experts pointed to that decline in hormone therapy use as the reason breast cancer rates were declining.

Not so, Shapiro said: "The decline in breast cancer incidence started three years before the fall in HRT use commenced, lasted for only one year after the HRT drop commenced, and then stopped."

For instance, he said, between 2002 and 2003, when large numbers of women were still using hormone therapy, the number of new breast cancer cases fell by nearly 7 percent.

In taking a look at the three studies again, Shapiro and his team reviewed whether the evidence satisfied criteria important to researchers, such as the strength of an association, taking into account other factors that could influence risk. Their conclusion: The evidence is not strong enough to say definitively that hormone therapy causes breast cancer.

The study is published in the current issue of the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care.

The new conclusion drew mixed reactions from experts.

In an editorial accompanying the study, Nick Panay, a consultant gynecologist at the Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea Hospital in London, supported the conclusions of the new analysis. "If there is a risk, the risk is small, and the benefits of HRT can be life-altering," he wrote. "It is vital that we keep this in perspective when counseling our patients."

The hormone therapy in use today, Panay said, is lower in dose than those used in the previous research. "In principle, we tend to start with lower doses than we used to and increase as required until full symptom relief has been achieved," he said.

What is needed now, he said, is a clinical trial in which the hormone therapy in use today is compared with placebo, to evaluate the risks and benefits.

Another expert took a more middle-of-the-road view about the potential link.  "It would be hard to say the entire decline [in breast cancer rates] is due to the decline in HRT use," said Dr. Steven Narod, the Canada Research Chair in Breast Cancer at the University of Toronto.

According to Dr. Susan Gapstur, vice president of epidemiology for the American Cancer Society, the new analysis overlooks some other important information. "Indeed, there is a much larger body of scientific evidence from clinical trials and from observational epidemiologic studies comparing breast cancer incidence rates in women who used HRT to those who did not that demonstrate the risks and benefits of HRT for chronic diseases," she said.

"Women need to discuss with their doctors the risk and benefits of taking HRT for the primary prevention of chronic disease, including breast cancer," she added.

Narod said hormone replacement is an excellent therapy for some women. Therapy that includes progesterone carries more risk, he said, and limiting use to five years or less seems wise.

Shapiro has performed consulting work for the manufacturers of hormone therapy, and Panay has received grants from pharmaceutical companies.

SOURCE