Switch to Low-Fat Diet Fails to Lower Cancer Risk, Study Says

A combined analysis of seven cancer studies in four countries has concluded that switching to a low-fat diet in midlife does not reduce the risk of breast cancer. Breast cancer strikes about 182,000 women worldwide each year and causes 62,000 deaths.

The Harvard researchers stressed in the Feb. 8 New England Journal of Medicine that the findings do not support the consumption of fat-rich diets. “Despite the lack of association with breast cancer, there are other good reasons [such as the prevention of colon cancer and heart disease] to limit intake of red meat and high-fat dairy foods and to increase consumption of fruit and vegetables.”