Carotenoids and DHA reduce breast cancer risk

MONTREAL, CANADA. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Canadian women. In 2002, about 20,700 new cases were diagnosed and 5,400 women died from the disease. Many studies, most of them inconclusive, have been carried out to seek correlations between diet and the risk of breast cancer.

Researchers at the University of Montreal now report that a diet rich in carotenoids and fish oils may reduce breast cancer risk. Their study involved 411 French-Canadian women diagnosed with breast cancer and 429 matched controls. All participants completed validated food-frequency questionnaires in face-to-face interviews. The interviewers found no overall correlation between carotenoid intake and cancer risk; however, they did find intriguing correlations in subgroups of women.

Among premenopausal women who were now smoking or had smoked in the past, a high intake of alpha- carotene was associated with a 2.4-fold increase in cancer risk. Among postmenopausal women total intake of carotenoids was associated with a 1.92-fold increase in risk if combined with a high intake of arachidonic acid.

However, if a high intake of carotenoids was combined with a high intake of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a main component of fish oils, the cancer risk was cut in half. These associations remained after adjustments for other known breast cancer risks such as age at first full-term pregnancy, history of breast cancer in first-degree relatives, history of benign breast disease, number of full-term pregnancies, martial status, and calorie intake. The researchers conclude that a diet with a high content of fruits, carotenoid-rich vegetables, and DHA-rich fish may reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Source:
Nkondjock, A. and Ghadirian, P. Intake of specific carotenoids and essential fatty acids and breast cancer risk in Montreal, Canada. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 79, May 2004, pp. 857-64

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