In conclusion, higher consumption of red meat during adolescence was associated with premenopausal breast cancer. Substituting other dietary protein sources for red meat in adolescent diet may decrease premenopausal breast cancer risk.
The breast is particularly vulnerable to carcinogenic influences during adolescence due to rapid proliferation of mammary cells and lack of terminal differentiation. We investigated consumption of adolescent red meat and other protein sources in relation to breast cancer risk in the Nurses' Health Study II cohort. We followed prospectively 44,231 women aged 33–52 years who, in 1998, completed a detailed questionnaire about diet during adolescence.
Adolescent intake of poultry was associated with lower risk of breast cancer overall. Adolescent intakes of iron, heme iron, fish, eggs, legumes and nuts were not associated with breast cancer. Replacement of one serving/day of total red meat with one serving of combination of poultry, fish, legumes, and nuts was associated with a 15% lower risk of breast cancer overall and a 23% lower risk of premenopausal breast cancer.
In conclusion, higher consumption of red meat during adolescence was associated with premenopausal breast cancer. Substituting other dietary protein sources for red meat in adolescent diet may decrease premenopausal breast cancer risk.
For more details of the study : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.29218/abstract;jsessionid=BFA625582F2B16B0141661ECDF2997B2.f02t04
For an interview with Maryam S Farvid, a visiting scientist and Takemi fellow at Harvard School of Public Health, who was first author on two recent studies that found that young women who ate higher amounts of red meat had a higher risk of breast cancer, read
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/red-meat-consumption-and-breast-cancer-risk/
