IrishHealth.com
Breast cancer risk from chips

Pre-school children who eat a lot of French fries may be more likely to develop breast cancer as adults, new research has indicated.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School in the USA say that diet early in life can play a role in the development of diseases in women later in life.



The new study provides additional evidence that breast cancer may originate during the early phases of a woman’s life and that eating habits during that phase may be particularly important to reduce future risk of breast cancer.

The study surveyed 582 nurses who had breast cancer and more than 1500 who did not have breast cancer . Their mothers were asked how often their children had eaten 30 different foods when they were at pre-school age.

The researchers estimated that for each additional serving of French fries per week that a woman ate as a pre-schooler, her risk of getting breast cancer later in life increased by 27%.

The study indicated that while eating potatoes was not associated with increased risk, the preparation of chips through frying in fat high in saturated fats and trans-fatty acids, may be of relevance in the later development of cancer.

The study found, however, that other junk foods such as hot dogs or ice-cream did not have the same breast cancer risk.

The research is published in the International Journal of Cancer.