Dietary fat and breast cancer risk in the Swedish women's lifestyle and health cohort

We investigated whether dietary intakes of total fat, monounsaturated fat (MUFA), polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) and saturated fat (SFA) were associated with breast cancer risk in a prospective cohort of 49 261 Swedish women (30 - 49 years at enrolment), which yielded 974 breast cancer cases by December 2005. Further, we evaluated if associations differed by oestrogen and/or progesterone receptor tumour status. Total fat, MUFA, PUFA or SFA were not associated with risk overall. However, women in the highest MUFA and PUFA quintile intake had a reduced breast cancer risk after age 50 years (hazard ratios: 95% confidence interval = 0.45: 0.25 - 0.99 and 0.54: 0.35 - 0.85, respectively) compared to women in the lowest quintile. The associations did not differ by oestrogen or progesterone receptor status. Despite the negative findings, type of fat during premenopausal years may have later differential effects on risk.