Fat-diet link for cancer

LONDON - People who eat a lot of fat run a higher risk of breast cancer, a British study has found.

Dr Richard Wiseman, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says a diet high in fat is not likely to be a direct cause of the disease but the indirect effect of such a diet depletes the breast of a protective nutrient.

The unidentified nutrient is likely to be a trace element in the soil, taken up by plants and entering the food chain. It is probably at high levels in cereals and seeds of plants, but at only low levels, or not at all, in fat, red meat and dairy products.

Fat has long been cited as a cause of breast cancer since scientists noted that countries with low fat diets, such as Japan, had a low rate of the disease. But the varying incidence of the disease within populations eating broadly the same diet has never been explained.

Breast cancer claims 13,000 lives a year in Britain. Its main cause is unknown.

- INDEPENDENT