Nutritional factors and cancers of the breast, endometrium and ovary

Abstract

From an overview of epidemiological evidence on nutrition, diet and cancers of the breast, endometrium and ovary, the following indications can be drawn: •— Overweight and obesity are causally related to endometrial and post-menopausal breast cancer, and may account for as much as one third of the cases of endometrial and one tenth of breast cancer in Europe. It is not known whether obesity or overweight early in life has any role on breast cancer risk, nor whether obesity influences ovarian carcinogenesis. Overweight tends to be associated with an unfavourable prognosis for breast cancer.•— Despite extensive research, the available knowledge on diet and breast cancer is largely inconsistent, and the results from ecological and individual-based studies are contradictory in relation to fat, proteins, total energy, alcohol, etc.•— There are only scanty data on diet and endometrial or ovarian cancer, which tend to suggest role for fat (or animal fat) in the risk of these neoplasms.•— The evidence on diet and breast, ovarian and endometrial carcinogenesis is still too scanty or inconsistent to be of any practical preventive value. Thus, the only clear indication for prevention is that a reduction of overweight would avoid a substantial number of cases of endometrial and post-menopausal breast cancer.