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# Diet, breast density and breast cancer risk
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/breast_cancer_breast_density_0804110723/
- Published: 2011-08-04T08:28:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T15:44:05.000Z
- Description: Harvard researchers compared 1,042 postmenopausal women with breast cancer to 1,794 without and found those with 50% or more breast density had triple the risk of women below 10%. Denser breasts went with in situ, larger, estrogen-receptor-negative and higher-grade tumours.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Cancer, Avoiding Illness, Breast Cancer, Vitamin D, Mammogram Screening, Breast Density, Red Meat, #vivvo-import

By David Liu, Ph.D.

Tursday Aug 4, 2011 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study confirms that women with higher breast density determined based on mammographic images are at much higher risk for breast cancer, compared with those with lower breast density.

The study released recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute shows that women with 50 percent or higher breast density tripled their risk for breast cancer, compared with those with 10 or less percent breast density.

Rulla M. Tamimi of Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and colleagues found the association after comparing 1,042 postmenopausal women with breast cancer diagnosed between June 1, 1989 and June 30, 2004 with 1,794 women who did not have the disease for a number of tumor characteristics. The subjects were part of 121,791 registered female nurses in the Nurses' Health Study.

The association was found stronger for in situ, larger, estrogen receptor-negative and higher grade tumors, compared to invasive, smaller, estrogen receptor positive, and low grade tumors.

But breast density was not associated with tumor histology, lymph nodes, and progesterone receptor and HER2 status.

Tamimi et al. concluded "The findings suggest that higher mammographic density is associated with more aggressive tumor characteristics and also with in situ tumors."

Now the study does not seem intended to give women any advice on how to avoid having high breast density. At least media outlets in most cases report no more than the association between breast density and breast cancer risk.

Could women do something to reduce their breast density?

Quite some studies actually reveal that a female's diet, particularly in her childhood and adolescence can affect her adult breast density. Vitamin D deficiency can be one risk factor for higher breast density. And eating red meat can be a missing link for the association because it has been correlated with both higher breast density and higher breast cancer risk.

M. Tseng of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA and colleagues studied 157 high-risk women who had a family history of breast cancer and found breast density was inversely correlated with vitamin D intake. Women whose intake of vitamin D was in the third tertile were 50 percent less likely to have high breast density, compared with those whose intake was in the first tertile.

At least among women whose family history was not associated with known cancer syndromes, those with higher animal protein intake were more than four times as likely to have higher breast density.

Tseng's study was published in 2007 in Breast Cancer Research.

Another study reported again in 2011 by M. Tseng this time of California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA suggests that high intake of red meat in adolescent years may boost the risk of having highly dense breasts.

For the study, the authors looked at data on adolescent diet, physical activity, and body size and breast density from 201 Chinese immigrant women in the U.S. who were enrolled in Philadelphia region mammogram screening programs from Jan 2002 through May 2003\. As usual, mammographic images were grouped into 1 to 4 categories from "entirely fatty" to "extremely dense".

The researchers found women whose intake of meat was in the third tertile tripled the odds of having high adult breast density, compared with those whose intake was in the first tertile. They say "greater adolescent red meat intake may have increased adult breast density."

The study was published in the April issue of Nutrition and Cancer.

Breast cancer is diagnosed in more than 175,000 women each year in the U.S. and the disease kills about 50,00 annually in the country, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The medical industry and the government encourage women to receive mammogram screening to diagnose breast cancer early and treat it early because they claim mammogram screening can save lives.

A recent study found the popular mammogram screening does not help save lives.

The study suggests the decline in breast cancer mortality is not due to mammogram screening. Better treatment and improved healthcare are actually responsible for the reduced risk of death from breast cancer.

The study was conducted by Philippe Autier, MD, from the International Prevention Research Institute, Lyon, France and released online July 28 this year in British Medical Journal.

Breast cancer is considered a preventative malignancy. Many lifestyle parameters may be modified to reduce the risk. For instance, many epidemiologic studies suggest that high intake of vitamin D may reduce the risk of breast cancer by up to 70 percent.

Photo credit: wikipedia.org