Diet and Cancer Prevention

Low-Fat Study Underscores Need for Dramatic Dietary Changes

The results of the Women’s Health Initiative study on low-fat diets may seem shocking, but modest results can be expected from a diet that makes only modest reductions in fat intake.

This study simply confirms what others have already proven: Diets that shift the focus from red meat to chicken or fish and have other minor reductions in fat are too weak to prevent cancer. For example, the inclusion of naturally high-fat meat and dairy products in the intervention group’s diet made it difficult for participants to meet the moderately low-fat requirement. By the end of the study, these women were averaging 29 percent of calories from fat, even though they were instructed to consume no more than 20 percent.

The nearly 25,000 women between the ages of 50 and 79 in the intervention group attempted the diet for just eight years after many more years of eating the standard American diet. Moreover, the study’s control group didn’t provide much of a contrast as they consumed 35 percent of calories from fat and just one fewer serving of fruits or vegetables daily compared with the intervention group.

Yet even with those modest differences, the intervention group had a 9 percent lower risk of breast cancer and fewer colon polyps (which can turn into cancer) than the control group. Predictably, women who made the greatest reductions in fat intake showed a more notable drop in breast cancer risk—up to 20 percent.

A growing body of scientific evidence has shown that people on low-fat, plant-based diets have dramatically lower rates of cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses than meat eaters. And while a modestly low-fat diet will yield modest results, a truly low-fat diet—about 10 percent of calories from fat with no animal fat or cholesterol, as recommended by The Cancer Project—can be an effective and powerful tool for reducing cancer.

Low-fat dietary pattern and risk of colorectal cancer: the Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Dietary Modification Trial. JAMA. 2006 Feb 8;295(6):643-54.

Low-fat dietary pattern and risk of invasive breast cancer: the Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Dietary Modification Trial. JAMA. 2006 Feb 8;295(6):629-42.

The Cancer Project News, Winter 2006

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