ABSTRACT
Breast cancer is the most common neoplasm affecting women in the Western World, and a substantial proportion of women who develop the disease will ultimately die of it. Evidence of a benefit from screening in younger women, in terms of reduced mortality from breast cancer, is not presently available, but is now being sought in a further randomized controlled trial of screening. Studies of migrants provide evidence that these international differences in breast cancer incidence are not due to genetic factors, but rather are attributable to environmental influences. The evidence relating diet and breast cancer risk has been the subject of recent reviews. The mechanism by which dietary fat might influence the development of breast cancer is unknown, but several metabolic alterations have been reported in association with changes in fat consumption that might influence the state of the mammary epithelium.
