The Nation - News from Jan. 1, 1987

A modest reduction in fat consumption by women is unlikely to cause a substantial decrease in the incidence of breast cancer, researchers said. The finding by a team led by Dr. Walter Willett, associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard Medical School, casts doubt on previous suggestions that dietary fat was a risk factor in breast cancer. Previously available data on humans was “sparse and inconsistent,” Willett said.