Effects of High Fruit-Vegetable and/or Low-Fat Intervention on Breast Nipple Aspirate Fluid Micronutrient Levels

Abstract

A change in diet is known to affect micronutrient levels in blood but to what extent diet can affect micronutrient levels in the breast is not yet well established. Healthy, premenopausal women with a family history of breast cancer were randomized across four diet arms for 1 year in a 2 x 2 factorial design study: control, low-fat, high fruit-vegetable, and combination low-fat/high fruit-vegetable diets. Subjects were asked to collect breast nipple aspirate fluid (NAF) at 0, 6, and 12 months, and levels of micronutrients were measured in the fluid. A total of 122 women were enrolled, 97 were retained for 12 months, and sufficient NAF for analysis was available from 59 women at baseline, 49 at 6 months, and 50 at 12 months. Repeated measures mixed-model ANOVA was used to model the data using cholesterol levels and lactation duration as covariates, where appropriate. The high fruit-vegetable intervention, regardless of fat intake, significantly increased total carotenoid levels in NAF. In the low-fat arm, levels of total carotenoids decreased over time relative to control. Levels of total tocopherols and retinol did not change significantly. Levels of 15-F(2t)-isoprostane, a marker of lipid peroxidation, also did not change significantly over time, although there was a decrease observed in the combination arm. These results indicate that total carotenoid levels in NAF can be significantly increased in the breast NAF with a high fruit-vegetable diet. A low-fat diet that was achieved with little increase in fruit and vegetable intake, however, decreased NAF carotenoid levels.