Fat-Reduced Diet May Not Reduce Risk for Cancer or Cardiovascular Disease

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http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/523078

 

This is an exert to the full Medscape article.

 

Feb. 7, 2006 — At 8 years of follow-up, a fat-reduced diet was not associated

with reduced risk for breast or colon cancer, heart disease, stroke, or

cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to the results of the randomized Women's

Health Initiative (WHI) dietary modification trial reported in 3 articles

published in the February 8 issue of JAMA. Two accompanying editorials note the

limitations of this trial, particularly that the diet studied is not consistent

with current guidelines for a heart-healthy diet.

" The hypothesis that a low-fat dietary pattern can reduce breast cancer risk

has existed for decades but has never been tested in a controlled intervention

trial, " write Ross L. Prentice, PhD, from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer

Institute in Seattle, Washington, and colleagues. " Supported by early rodent

experiments, country-to-country comparisons linked higher dietary fat intake to

breast

cancer risk. However, case-control and cohort studies have had mixed results. "