Low fat diets tied to lower risk of death

Women who lowered the fat in their diets while eating more fruits, vegetables and grains had a lower risk of dying from breast cancer than those with higher-fat diets, new long-term research says.

In a federally funded clinical trial of nearly 49,000 women aged 50 to 79, they found that they had reduced their fat content to 25% or more and added more fruits, vegetables and grains had a 21% lower risk of death from breast cancer.

The women with low-fat diets also had a 15% lower risk of death from any cause after being diagnosed with breast cancer, the study found.

"Bear is the first randomized, controlled trial to prove that a healthy diet can reduce the risk of death from breast cancer," lead study author Dr. Rowan Chlebowski said in a statement.

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The clinical trial was conducted by the Women's Health Initiative, and the research will be presented in June at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago. The study has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

From 1993 to 1998, 48,835 postmenopausal women with no prior history of breast cancer were assigned to two groups: One where fat accounted for 32% or more of their daily calories and a second with a goal of lowering fat to 20% or less of their calorie intake and eating at least one serving of a vegetable, fruit and grain per day.

The women in the low-fat group were able to keep their diets for eight and a half years, though most only reduced their fat intake to 25% of their daily calories. The group also had an average 3% weight loss.

Researchers have followed the women for a median of 19.6 years. Almost 3,400 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed from 1993 to 2013.

"This is a wake-up call for women – there's something they can do," Dr. Elisa Port, at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, who was not involved in the study, told the Washington Post.

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Chlebowski stressed the importance of the dietary change, calling it one of "moderation."

"It's not about eating twigs and branches," he told the Washington Post. "It's what people were eating, say, 20 years ago, before you could pick up 900 calories in one candy bar."

However, the study looks only at fat reduction in diets, rather than comparing the types of fat.

Some experts say that while the research is significant given the size of the trial group and the length of follow-up, it may not be clear whether the benefit is greater than that of lowering fat overall or of increasing fruit, vegetable and grain consumption.

"JoAnn Manson, a study co-author, told NPR. "The trial was designed to reduce total fat since it was reduced to a total reduction of fat."

"Now, there's more evidence that, especially for cardiovascular disease, the type of fat really matters," she added.

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"It's possible that if they designed this study today," Karen Basen-Engquist, who was not involved in the study and is a cancer prevention expert, "they're probably a much bigger emphasis on saturated fat that comes from meats and dairy products. at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, told NBC News.

According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women. One in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed in their lifetime, the group says.

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