New research now suggests that consuming less dietary fat after being diagnosed with breast cancer may significantly improve a person's survival rate.
Estimates show that around 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer at one point in their lives.
If the cancer is found only in the breast and has not spread to other parts of the body, 99 percent of the people who receive such a diagnosis go on to live cancer-free lives for a minimum of 5 years.
And, if the cancer has spread to the surrounding lymph nodes, 85 percent of patients with breast cancer have the same 5-year survival rate. However, this rate drops to 27 percent if the cancer has traveled to distant parts of the body.
But what are some of the factors that influence the survivors' outlook? Some studies have revealed that being obese, for example, raises the risk of breast cancer recurrence, even death, by 35–40 percent.
Does this mean that following a low-fat diet will impact a patient's chance of cancer recurrence and overall survival? Scientists led by Dr. Rowan T. Chlebowski, Ph.D. — of the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, CA — set out to investigate.
