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Study explores link between high-fat diet, breast cancer

By Daily Bruin Staff

Feb. 13, 1996 9:00 p.m.

Study explores link between high-fat diet, breast cancer

Previous research finds eating fatty diet may contribute to
growth of cancer cells

By Jennifer K. Morita

Daily Bruin Staff

UCLA researchers are attempting to stop the spread of breast
cancer by altering the fat intake of female patients whose cancer
persists despite traditional treatments, through a three-month
study conducted at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer
Center.

"It’s an intervention study," said Dr. Dilprit Bagga, an
assistant researcher and nutritionist for the study.

According to Bagga, the study will look at two groups of
patients, one of which will consist of women who have been
diagnosed with advanced breast cancer and are in remission.

"The other group will be of patients who have the metastatic
disease but are nonrespondent to mainstream treatments, such as
chemotherapy," Bagga said. "They had all that treatment but their
disease hasn’t been cured."

Researchers plan to intervene by lowering their fat intake to 15
percent of their daily caloric intake and giving them fish-oil and
soybean protein supplements.

Patients will also be increasing the amount of whole grains,
cereals, fruits and vegetables that they eat and lowering their
daily intake of meat.

"What we’re trying to do is mimic the traditional Japanese diet,
which is usually high in soy, fish and fiber and low in fat," Bagga
said. "There’s a lot of evidence that shows eating high amounts of
fat promotes cancer."

Research has found eating high amounts of fat may activate
certain genes that help cancer cells grow as well as increase
hormone levels, particularly estrogen, that will also further the
spread of cancer.

Dietary fat may also reduce the ability of the immune system to
kill off cancer cells and enable cancer cells to invade surrounding
tissue.

"We’re cutting off those mechanisms," Bagga said. "We want to
make fat composition hostile to future cancer growth."

According to researchers, there is significant evidence
suggesting breast cancer may be diet-related and that countries
which have higher fat diets have higher incidences of breast
cancer.

"Countries which historically eat a low-fat diet, like Japan,
have a lower risk of developing breast cancer," said one of the
investigators, Dr. Stefani Capone. "Lab studies with animals who
have been fed a higher fat diet, developed more tumors than animals
who have been fed a lower fat diet.

"So there’s some suggestion that fat is a very important factor
in modulating the aggressiveness of breast cancer," Capone
said.

But there are other studies which have failed to show a
relationship between cancer and diet.

"We’re putting our patients … on a low-fat diet with some
supplements which are the soy-supplement and fish oil, in a very
controlled way," Capone said. "We’ll monitor whether or not we’re
changing their body fat composition. We believe if we do (this), we
may modulate how aggressive the breast cancer is and how it
grows."

According to the study’s principal investigator, Dr. John
Glaspy, this study is exploring one of the only breast cancer risk
factors that can be controlled.

"Right now, we know about a lot of risk factors but none of them
are controllable," Glaspy said. "Women can’t control who their
mothers or sisters are and they can’t control when they go through
menarche (menstruation) and menopause. There are plenty of risk
factors but no ability to prevent the disease."

"If we were able to develop or discover a diet that interrupted
breast cancer’s development, it would be the first time ever there
would be a preventive approach to breast cancer," said Glaspy.
"That’s pretty important."

Breast cancer affected about 182,000 women in the United States
in 1995, according to the American Cancer Society. An estimated
46,000 women died from breast cancer in 1995.

Researchers hope to have about 160 patients participate in the
study in order for their results to be statistically valid.

The reason for studying breast cancer, in particular, has to do
with an enzyme in a woman’s body, says Capone.

"One of the ways fat can have an effect is that within a woman’s
fat there is an enzyme called aromatase, which can convert the
steroids that we make in our bodies into estrogen," Capone said.
"And estrogen helps breast cancer to grow."

The type of fat may also be an important factor, researchers
say. In Western countries like the United States, diets contain a
lot of type Omega 6 fatty acids found in vegetable oils. Fish oil,
however, contains type Omega 3 fatty acids.

"In studies where animals were fed different types of fat,
animals fed Omega 3 fatty acids (didn’t) grow as many tumors and
also they (didn’t) spread as often," said Capone. "It seems that
the Omega 3 fatty acids may actually turn off genes in the cancer
that help it to grow and spread."

According to Capone, there is some doubt that fat is an actual
factor in cancer growth.

"Some people don’t think that the type of fat is an important
factor," Capone said. "But that is because some studies may not
have shown an effective dietary fat on cancer because of the types
of fat in the diet."

Researchers hope to have results by the end of this year.

Some signs of breast cancer, according to the National Cancer
Institute, include a lump or thickening of the breast or underarm
area, a change in the size, shape or feel of the breast, or a
discharge from the nipple. Often, breast cancer in its earliest
stages does not cause any pain, but if a woman notices any changes
she should see her doctor.Comments to
[email protected]

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