Dietary factors and survival from breast cancer

Abstract

The association between self‐reported intake of various dietary factors at diagnosis and survival from breast cancer was studied in a population‐based cohort of breast cancer patients in Adelaide, South Australia. These patients had been recruited between 1982 and 1984 into a case‐control study of diet and incident breast cancer. Of the 451 patients recruited originally, 412 were followed for a median interval of 5.5 years. There were decreases in the risk of death from breast cancer ranging from 25 to 40% at all levels of energy and protein intake above the baseline, whereas for fat intake there was a 40% increase in risk at the uppermost quintile level. There was also some reduction in risk at the upper levels of intake of β‐carotene and vitamin C. However, there were no dose‐dependent variations in risk of death by level of intake for any of the dietary factors studied, and most of the variation in risk that was observed was relatively insubstantial.