Breast cancer and dietary patterns: a systematic review

Abstract

This systematic review collates research on the topic of dietary patterns and breast cancer risks. The literature search targeted epidemiological studies published up to December 2012 and was conducted using the Medline (U.S. National Library of Medicine, Bethesda MD, USA) and Lilacs (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences, São Paulo, Brazil) databases. The following search terms were used: breast cancer, breast neoplasm, breast carcinoma, diet, food, eating habits, dietary patterns, factor analysis, and principal component analysis. Only studies that used factor analysis techniques and/or principal component analysis were eligible, and a total of 26 studies were included. The findings of these studies suggest the Mediterranean dietary pattern and diets composed largely of vegetables, fruit, fish, and soy are associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer. There was no evidence of an association between traditional dietary patterns and risk of breast cancer, and only one study showed a significant increase in risk associated with the Western dietary pattern. Diets that include alcoholic beverages may be associated with increased risk.

Dietary patterns and breast cancer risk in a prospective Japanese study

“…Although several epidemiologic studies have investigated associations between dietary patterns and BC risk [7,10,11], those dietary patterns may represent eating habits in a particular study population that are not applicable across other populations. Moreover, individual food preferences are modified by cultural, social, environmental, lifestyle and economic determinants [12].…”

“…This approach, however, does not consider the complexity of human diet, such as the variety of foods consumed and interactions among dietary components [7].…”

Nutrition, Nitrogen Requirements, Exercise and Chemotherapy-Induced Toxicity in Cancer Patients. A puzzle of Contrasting Truths?

“…Evidences concerning nutrition and altered protein/ nitrogen metabolism in cancer have been described since the 50's [5][6][7] generating the important concept that "the host-tumor relationship is the key to the cancer problem" [8]. This would suggest a possible link between nutritional habits and cancer development [9,10]. Hence, the main question regarding the hostcancer relationship can be asked: "nutrients feed best cancer or noncancer tissues ?"…”

Association between Vegetable, Fruit and Carbohydrate Intake and Breast Cancer Risk in Relation to Physical Activity

“…In a few meta-analysis, majority of studies reported an inverse association of a higher consumption of fresh vegetables/fruits and the risk of breast cancer (Gandini et al, 2000;Smith-Warner et al, 2001;Michels et al, 2007;Brennan et al, 2010;Albuquerque et al, 2013;Joanna Kruk overall significant association between carbohydrates and breast cancer risk had been found in prospective studies of adult diet (Cho et al, 2003;Nielsen et al 2005;Silvera et al, 2005;Giles et al, 2006). Previous work from our group has shown that a high consumption of animal fat significantly increased risk of breast cancer independent of physical activity level (Kruk and Marchlewicz, 2013).…”