Open AccessDietary intakes of fat and fatty acids and risk of breast cancer: A prospective study in Japan
Author(s) -
Wakai Kenji,
Tamakoshi Koji,
Date Chigusa,
Fukui Mitsuru,
Suzuki Sadao,
Lin Yingsong,
Niwa Yoshimitsu,
Nishio Kazuko,
Yatsuya Hiroshi,
Kondo Takaaki,
Tokudome Shinkan,
Yamamoto Akio,
Toyoshima Hideaki,
Tamakoshi Akiko
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
cancer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.035
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1349-7006
pISSN - 1347-9032
DOI - 10.1111/j.1349-7006.2005.00084.x
Subject(s) - medicine , quartile , breast cancer , prospective cohort study , confidence interval , relative risk , lower risk , cohort study , population , physiology , cancer , endocrinology , environmental health
To examine the possible association of dietary fat and fatty acids with breast cancer risk in a population with a low total fat intake and a high consumption of fish, we analyzed data from the Japan Collaborative Cohort (JACC) Study. From 1988 to 1990, 26 291 women aged 40–79 years completed a questionnaire on dietary and other factors. Intakes of fat or fatty acids were estimated by using a food frequency questionnaire. Rate ratios (RR) were computed by fitting proportional hazards models. During the mean follow‐up of 7.6 years, 129 breast cancer cases were documented. We found no clear association of total fat intake with breast cancer risk; the multivariate‐adjusted RR across quartiles were 1.00, 1.29, 0.95, and 0.80 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.46–1.38). A significant decrease in the risk was detected for the highest quartile of intake compared with the lowest for fish fat and long‐chain n‐3 fatty acids; the RR were 0.56 (95% CI 0.33–0.94) and 0.50 (0.30–0.85), respectively. A decreasing trend in risk was also suggested with an increasing intake of saturated fatty acids (trend P = 0.066). Among postmenopausal women at baseline, the highest quartile of vegetable fat intake was associated with a 2.08‐fold increase in risk (95% CI 1.05–4.13). This prospective study did not support any increase in the risk of breast cancer associated with total or saturated fat intake, but it suggested the protective effects of the long‐chain n‐3 fatty acids that are abundant in fish. ( Cancer Sci 2005; 96 : 590 – 599)