Abstract
Mammographic parenchymal patterns are related to breast cancer risk and are also thought to be affected by diet. We designed a case–control study comprising 200 cases with high-risk (P2 and DY) mammographic parenchymal pattern and 200 controls with low-risk (N1 and P1) patterns in order to investigate the effect of food and nutrient intake on mammographic patterns. Mammograms were evaluated according to the Wolfe classification system. Dietary data were obtained from 7-day food diaries. Mean daily intake of nutrients was computed from standard UK food tables. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) of having a high-risk pattern in women in the highest tertile of total protein and carbohydrate intake was twice that of women in the lowest tertile (OR = 2.00; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06–3.77; P = 0.04 and OR = 1.93; 95% CI 1.03–3.59; P = 0.04 respectively). There was no excess risk for fat intake. In addition, there was no association between intake of vitamins and mammographic parenchymal patterns. Total meat intake was strongly and positively associated with high-risk patterns among post-menopausal women (OR = 2.50, 95% CI 1.09–5.69, P = 0.03). Our study suggests that certain macronutrients and foods such as protein, carbohydrate and meat intake influence the risk of breast cancer through their effects on breast tissue morphology, whereas fat and vitamins do not affect mammographic density. It seems that parenchymal pattern acts as an informative biomarker of the effect of some macronutrient and foodstuffs intake on breast cancer risk. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaign
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
Change history
16 November 2011
This paper was modified 12 months after initial publication to switch to Creative Commons licence terms, as noted at publication
References
Armstrong BK, Brown JB, Clarke HT, Crooke DK, Hahnel R, Masarei JR and Ratajczak T (1981) Diet and reproductive hormones: a study of vegetarian and non-vegetarian postmenopausal women. J Natl Cancer Inst 67: 761–767
Bingham S, Gill C, Welch A, Cassidy A, Khaw K-T, Sneyd MJ, Key TJ, Roe L and Day NE (1994) Comparison of dietary assessment methods in nutritional epidemiology: weighed records vs 24 h recalls, food frequency questionnaires and estimated diet records. Br J Nutr 74: 619–642
Boyd NF, Cousins M, Beaton M, Fishell E, Wright B, Fish E, Kriukov V, Lockwood G, Tritchler D, Hanna W and Page DL (1988) Clinical trial of low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet in subjects with mammographic dysplasia: report of early outcomes. J Natl Cancer Inst 80: 1244–1248
Boyd NF, McGuire V, Fishell E, Kuriov V, Lockwood G and Tritchler D (1989) Plasma lipids in premenopausal women with mammographic dysplasia. Br J Cancer 59: 766–771
Boyd NF, Martin LJ, Noffel M, Lockwood GA and Tritchler DL (1993) A meta-analysis of studies of dietary fat and breast cancer risk. Br J Cancer 68: 627–636
Boyd NF, Greenberg C, Lockwood G, Little L, Martin L, Byng JW, Yaffe MJ and Tritchler D (1998) Effects of 2 years of low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet on radiologic features of the breast: results from a randomized trial. J Natl Cancer Inst 89: 488–496
Breslow NE and Day NE (1980). Statistical Methods in Cancer Research, Vol. 1, IARC Scientific Publications: Lyan
Brisson J, Verreault R, Morrison AS, Tennina S and Meyer F (1989) Diet, mammographic features of breast tissue, and breast cancer risk. Am J Epidemiol 130: 14–24
Clavel Chapelon F, Niravong M and Joseph RR (1997) Diet and breast cancer: review of the epidemiologic literature. Cancer Detect Prev 21: 426–440
Day NE, Oakes S, Luben R, Khaw K-T, Bingham S, Welch A and Wareham N (1999) Epic in Norfolk: study design and characteristics of the cohort. Br J Cancer 80: 95–103
Goldin BR, Adlercreutz H, Gorbach SL, Warram JH, Dwyer JT, Swenson L and Woods MN (1982) Estrogen excretion patterns and plasma levels in vegetarian and omnivorous women. N Engl J Med 307: 1542–1547
Holland B, Welch AA, Unwin ID, Buss DH, Paul AA and Southgate DAT (1991). McCance and Widdowson’s The Composition of Foods, 5th edn, The Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge
Hunter DJ, Spiegelman D, Adami HO, Beeson L, van den Brandt PA, Folsom AR and Fraser GE (1996) Cohort studies of fat intake and risk of breast cancer – a pooled analysis. N Engl J Med 334: 356–361
Knight JA, Martin LJ, Greenberg CV, Lockwood GA, Byng JW, Yaffe MJ, Tritchler DL and Boyd NF (1999) Macronutrient intake and change in mammographic density at menopause: results from a randomised trial. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 8: 123–128
Nordevang E, Azavedo E, Svane G, Nilsson B and Holm LE (1993) Dietary habits and mammographic patterns in patients with breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 26: 207–215
Saftlas AF and Szklo M (1987) Mammographic parenchymal patterns and breast cancer risk. Epidemiol Rev 9: 146–174
Sala E, Warren RML, McCann J, Duffy S, Day N and Luben R (1998) Mammographic parenchymal patterns and mode of detection: implications for the breast screening programme. J Med Screen 5: 207–212
Sala E, Warren RML, McCann J, Duffy S, Luben R and Day N (1999) High-risk mammographic parenchymal patterns and anthropometric measures: a case–control study. Br J Cancer 81: 1257–1261
Sala E, Warren RML, McCann J, Duffy S, Luben R and Day N (2000) High-risk mammographic parenchymal patterns, hormone replacement therapy and other risk factors: a case– control study. Int J Epidemiol,
Schoeller DA, Bandini LG and Dietz WH (1990) Innaccuracies in self-reported intake identified by comparison with the doubly labelled water method. Can J Physiol Pharmacol 68: 941–949
Toniolo P, Riboli E, Shore RE and Pasternack BS (1994) Consumption of meat, animal products, protein, and fat and risk of breast cancer: a prospective cohort study in New York. Epidemiology 5: 391–397
Vatten LJ, Solvoll K and Loken EB (1990) Frequency of meat and fish intake and risk of breast cancer in a prospective study of 14 500 Norweigian women. Int J Cancer 46: 12–15
Warner E, Lockwood G, Math M, Tritchler D and Boyd NF (1992) The risk of breast cancer associated with mammographic parenchymal patterns: a meta-analysis of the published literature to examine the effect of method of classification. Cancer Detect Prevent 16: 67–72
Willett WC, Hunter DJ, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA, Manson JE, Spiegelman D, Rosner B, Hennekens CH and Speizer FE (1992) Dietary fat and fibre in relation to risk of breast cancer. An 8-year follow-up. JAMA 268: 2037–2044
Wolfe JN (1976) Breast patterns as an index of risk for developing breast cancer. Am J Roentgenol 126: 1130–1139
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
From twelve months after its original publication, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
About this article
Cite this article
Sala, E., Warren, R., Duffy, S. et al. High risk mammographic parenchymal patterns and diet: a case–control study. Br J Cancer 83, 121–126 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2000.1151
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2000.1151
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Aspirin use is associated with lower mammographic density in a large screening cohort
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment (2017)
-
Alcohol consumption and mammographic density in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort
Cancer Causes & Control (2017)
-
Adolescent fiber intake and mammographic breast density in premenopausal women
Breast Cancer Research (2016)
-
Alcohol Intake and Breast Cancer Risk: Weighing the Overall Evidence
Current Breast Cancer Reports (2013)
-
Alcohol intake and mammographic density in postmenopausal Norwegian women
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment (2012)