Meat, Dairy Won't Up Odds for Bre...(risk it was only in premenopausal women....),Health

The researchers did find that a high intake of processed meat products was linked with increased breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women, but not overall meat intake.

Also, high red meat consumption was associated with an increased breast cancer risk in some countries, but there was no consistent link overall, the team said.

In the second study, researchers evaluated the diets of more than 61,000 women, all cancer-free, who answered a questionnaire from 1987 to 1990. Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and Central Hospital in Vasteras, Sweden, noted almost 3,000 cases of breast cancer from women in the group over an average follow-up of more than 17 years. When they evaluated links between the cancer cases and CLA intake, they found no effect, either good or bad.

''These two studies are a reminder that the connections between what we eat and disease development are multifactorial," said Connie Diekman, a registered dietitian and director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis.

Recall bias -- people not remembering exactly what they had eaten -- might have skewed the results, she said.

The study result, however, "does not give us permission to eat as much as desired,'' she said. "I would remind readers to keep their food choices focused on what we know, not on every emerging study. So, using the Dietary Guidelines to shape choices and portions will be the best bet for health promotion and disease prevention."

In yet another study in the same journal, researchers found that dietary fiber intake reduced the risk of breast cancer, confirming previous research. That study, the National Institutes of Health--AARP Diet and Health Study, looked at the intake of fiber to breast cancer among more than
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