A Low-Fat Diet in Young Girls Cuts Breast Cancer Risks

Recent research done by Dr Peter Kwiterovich of the John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland has found that eating a low-fat diet in adolescence may protect women against breast cancer.

The study suggests that the lower-fat diet lowers the level of the sex hormone oestrogen which has been linked with breast cancer.

Researchers believe that diet may be crucial during puberty when breast tissue starts developing, although further testing is still required to be done to obtain firm evidence.

The research is based on a study involving 286 girls between 8 and 10 years old. They were randomly assigned a conventional or low-fat diet. Levels of sex hormones in their blood were measured over the course of seven years. At the end of the study, young women on a low-fat diet had 30% lower oestrogen levels.

(Source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, BBC News.)