High- and Low-Fat Dairy Intake, Recurrence, and Mortality After Breast Cancer Diagnosis

• Published in: JNCI : Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2013-05, Vol.105 (9), p.616-623
• Main Authors: KROENKE, Candyce H, KWAN, Marilyn L, SWEENEY, Carol, CASTILLO, Adrienne, CAAN, Bette J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - blood; Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis; Breast Neoplasms - etiology; Breast Neoplasms - mortality; California - epidemiology; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - blood; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - diagnosis; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - etiology; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - mortality; Dairy products; Dairy Products - adverse effects; Diet - adverse effects; Dietary Fats - administration & dosage; Dietary Fats - adverse effects; Estrogens - blood; Feeding Behavior; Female; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Incidence; Mammary gland diseases; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mortality; Multiple tumors. Solid tumors. Tumors in childhood (general aspects); Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - diagnosis; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - etiology; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - mortality; Odds Ratio; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors; Tumors
• ISSN: 0027-8874; 1460-2105
• DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djt027

Dietary fat in dairy is a source of estrogenic hormones and may be related to worse breast cancer survival. We evaluated associations between high- and low-fat dairy intake, recurrence, and mortality after breast cancer diagnosis. We included 1893 women from the Life After Cancer Epidemiology study diagnosed with early-stage invasive breast cancer from 1997 to 2000, who completed the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Food Frequency Questionnaire after diagnosis. A total of 349 women had a recurrence and 372 died during a median follow-up of 11.8 years, with 189 deaths from breast cancer. We used delayed entry Cox proportional hazards regression to evaluate associations between categories of the cumulative average of dairy fat at baseline and at follow-up 5 to 6 years later and subsequent outcomes. Tests of statistical significance were two-sided. In multivariable-adjusted analyses, overall dairy intake was unrelated to breast cancer-specific outcomes, although it was positively related to overall mortality. Low-fat dairy intake was unrelated to recurrence or survival. However, high-fat dairy intake was positively associated with outcomes. Compared with the reference (0 to