By David Liu, Ph.D.

Thursday Aug 11, 2011 (foodconsumer.org) -- Women who have sufficient intake of omega-3 fatty acids or certain nutrients during pregnancy may help reduce the risk of breast cancer in their daughters, two animal feeding trials presented on Aug 3 at the Era of Hope conference suggest.

One trial led by Philippe T. Georgel, PhD, of Marshall University found female mice born to mice fed a diet during pregnancy with sufficient amounts of canola oil, which was high in omega-3 fatty acids, produced gene expression profiles that are linked to lower risk of breast cancer, compared to female mice born to mothers that used corn oil, which is high in omega-6 fatty acids.

The ratio of omega-3 fatty acids to omega-6 fatty acids is important for cancer prevention.  Nutritionists believe Americans have high intake of omega-6 fatty acids, which are high in corn oil and soy bean oils and low intake of omega-3 fatty acids found high in oily fish and canola oil.

Another study led by Chung S. Park PhD of North Dakota State University found female mice during pregnancy fed a diet supplemented with lipotropic nutrients such as methionine, choline, folate and vitamin b12 were at a lower risk of developing breast cancer.

Park et al. fed one group of pregnant mice a diet supplemented with methyl nutrients  and another group a control diet.  At certain age, daughter mice received a chemical to induce breast cancer.   

The researchers looked at incidence and growth of tumors and found those mice fed methyl nutrients like choline, folate, vitamin B12 and methionine during pregnancy were less likely to develop mammary tumors and tumors if any grew more slowly in mice supplemented with the nutrients.

The researchers said the nutrients stimulated a full development of  mammary gland, decreasing the odds of develop breast cancer later in life.