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Meat, fish and egg intake and risk of breast cancer
Author(s) -
Holmes Michelle D.,
Colditz Graham A.,
Hunter David J.,
Hankinson Susan E.,
Rosner Bernard,
Speizer Frank E.,
Willett Walter C.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.10910
Subject(s) - breast cancer , medicine , red meat , cancer , relative risk , fish <actinopterygii> , incidence (geometry) , confidence interval , prospective cohort study , food frequency questionnaire , white meat , physiology , environmental health , biology , food science , pathology , physics , fishery , optics
Intakes of animal protein, meat, and eggs have been associated with breast cancer incidence and mortality in ecological studies, but data from long‐term prospective studies are limited. We therefore examined these relationships in the Nurses' Health Study. We followed 88,647 women for 18 years, with 5 assessments of diet by food frequency questionnaire, cumulatively averaged and updated over time. We calculated the relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for risk of developing invasive breast cancer, over categories of nutrient and food intake. During follow‐up, 4,107 women developed invasive breast cancer. Compared to the lowest quintile of intake, the RR and 95% CI for the highest quintile of intake were 1.02 (0.92–1.14) for animal protein, 0.93 (0.83–1.05) for red meat and 0.89 (0.79–1.00) for all meat. Results did not differ by menopausal status or family history of breast cancer. We found no evidence that intake of meat or fish during mid‐life and later was associated with risk of breast cancer. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.