Breast Cancer Risks May Be Reduced With Early Diet Changes, Study Indicates
       Auburn, Feb. 4, 2003 --- Researchers have uncovered yet more evidence that modest 
lifestyle changes undertaken early in life can produce major benefits years, even decades, down 
the road.
	A recent study conducted by researchers at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in 
Philadelphia involving almost 300 prepubescent girls reveals that a moderately low-fat diet can 
dramatically reduce female hormone levels, possibly lowering the risk of breast cancer later in 
life.
	The study corresponds with a tide of mounting concern over the steep increase in obesity 
in children.
	“The way things stand now, we’re seeing more children getting fat before puberty and 
staying that way into early adulthood,” Keith says.  “And they’re in big trouble when they enter 
adulthood with this extra weight because by then, it’s very difficult to get rid of it.”
	This is especially a problem for young girls, Keith says, since many, for whatever reason, 
become increasingly physically inactive as they get older.
	“We really begin seeing this inactivity setting in by the teen years,“ Keith says. “At age 6, 
there are almost as many girls as physically active as boys.  But by the time girls reach 16, you 
see a significant drop in physical activity.
	Many of these girls will later pay a heavy price later in life.  For even as they become less 
physically active and gain weight, they begin secreting higher levels of two types of hormones, 
estrogens and progesterone, both of which are linked with certain types of breast cancer. 
	However, the study revealed that girls starting between the ages of 8 and 10 who were 
placed on a moderate-fat diet, deriving about 28 percent of calories from fat significantly reduced 
their secretion of these hormones during the course of the study.  The typical American diet, by 
comparison, derives about 34 percent of calories from fat.
	After five years, for example, girls following the moderate-fat diet had 29.8 percent lower 
levels of the hormone estradiol, 20.7 percent lower estrone, and 28.7 percent lower estrone 
sulfate levels – all variants of the hormone estrogen, which is linked with breast cancer.
	After seven years, the girls also had half the progesterone levels during the second half 
of their menstrual cycles as did girls in the control group who did not follow the moderate low-fat 
diet.
	One interesting question raised by the study was whether it was the moderate fat 
reduction that actually caused these steep reductions. In the course of the study, some of the 
saturated fat was replaced with dietary fiber, and it’s possible this played an even more significant 
role in reducing hormone levels.
	“What they don’t emphasize is that whenever you lower dietary fat, you never know for 
sure what really is taking place,” Keith says.  “They lowered fat, and as a result, dietary fiber went 
up.”
	“So was it the reduction in fat or the fact that more fiber was added to the diet that made 
the difference?”
	Previous studies, in fact, have shown that fiber apparently plays a role in reducing 
hormone levels and, as a result, breast cancer risk.
	Exercise also has been shown to play a role in lowering these hormone levels, Keith 
says.  Studies, in fact, have shown that women athletes have lower levels of these hormones and 
may even start their menstrual cycles at a later age.
	What this means, Keith says, is that there may be a relatively easy way for young girls to 
make significant reductions in their breast-cancer risks.
	“This study and previous studies are establishing a strong case that a diet somewhat 
lower in fat, coupled with a daily regimen of moderate exercise, may lead to significant reductions 
in the risk of breast cancer, which remains the nation’s second leading cancer killer among 
women.”
(Source: Dr. Robert Keith, Alabama Cooperative Extension System Nutritionist, 334-844-
3273.)