Abstract
There is strong evidence that breast cancer risk is influenced by environmental factors, and animal experiments and human ecological data suggest that increased dietary fat intake increases the incidence of the disease. Epidemiological evidence on the relationship of dietary fat to breast cancer from cohort and case control studies has however been inconsistent. To examine the available evidence we have carried out a meta-analysis to summarise quantitatively the large published literature on dietary fat in the aetiology of breast cancer. After assembling all of the published case control and cohort studies, we extracted the relative risk in each study that compared the highest to the lowest level of intake. We then calculated a summary relative risk for all studies. The summary relative risk for the 23 studies that examined fat as a nutrient was 1.12 (95% CI 1.04-1.21). Cohort studies had a summary relative risk of 1.01 (95% CI 0.90-1.13) and case control studies a relative risk of 1.21 (95% CI 1.10-1.34). Summary estimates of risk for specific types of fat excluded unity for only saturated fat. For the 19 studies that examined food intake, the summary relative risks were 1.18 (95% CI 1.06-1.32) for meat, 1.17 (95% CI 1.04-1.31) for milk, and 1.17 (95% CI 1.02-1.36) for cheese. Summary relative risks for total fat intake were examined for several potential modifying factors. Regression analysis showed that European studies were more likely than studies done in other countries to show an increased relative risk associated with dietary fat and breast cancer, after taking into account potential modifying factors that included study design and quality.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 24 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $10.79 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Boyd, N., Martin, L., Noffel, M. et al. A meta-analysis of studies of dietary fat and breast cancer risk. Br J Cancer 68, 627–636 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1993.398
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1993.398
This article is cited by
-
On recent meta-analyses of exposure to glyphosate and risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in humans
Cancer Causes & Control (2021)
-
Mitochondrial complex I and V gene polymorphisms associated with breast cancer in mizo-mongloid population
Breast Cancer (2016)
-
Lactose intolerance and risk of lung, breast and ovarian cancers: aetiological clues from a population-based study in Sweden
British Journal of Cancer (2015)
-
Intakes of fat and micronutrients between ages 13 and 18Â years and the incidence of proliferative benign breast disease
Cancer Causes & Control (2015)
-
Hormone Use in Food Animal Production: Assessing Potential Dietary Exposures and Breast Cancer Risk
Current Environmental Health Reports (2015)