Early Life Residence, Fish Consumption, and Risk of Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background Little is known about fish intake throughout the life course and the risk of breast cancer. Methods We used data on the first residence of 9,340 women born 1908–1935 in the Reykjavik Study as well as food frequency data for different periods of life from a subgroup of the cohort entering the AGES-Reykjavik Study (n = 2,882). Results During a mean follow-up of 27.3 years, 744 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in the Reykjavik Study. An inverse association of breast cancer was observed among women who lived through the puberty period in coastal villages, compared with women residing in the capital area (HR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.61, 0.99). In the subgroup analysis of this Icelandic population, generally characterized by high fish intake, we found an indication of lower risk of breast cancer among women with high fish consumption (more than 4 portions per week) in adolescence (HR 0.71, 95% CI, 0.44, 1.13) and midlife (HR 0.46, 95% CI, 0.22, 0.97), compared with low consumers (2 portions per week or less). No association was found for fish liver oil consumption in any time period which could be due to lack of a reference group with low omega-3 fatty acids intake in the study group. Conclusion Our findings suggest that very high fish consumption in early to midlife may be associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer. Impact Very high fish consumption in early adulthood to midlife may be associated with decreased risk of breast cancer.

Association of eating habits and cooking methods with breast tumors among childbearing aged urban women in Indonesia: A cross-sectional study

“…Increasing evidence has emerged showing an increased risk of breast tumors linked with the intake of seafood (like fresh-water sh and marine sh), which is not in support of other literature conducted distinctively [37][38][39]. Our results are, however, similar to other publications, in which breast cancer risk is reduced with high seafood consumption [40]. Seafood such as sh (oily sh or sh oils) is regarded as the major source of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA), which can effectively deteriorate the risk of breast tumors among women [41,42].…”

Dietary habits in adolescence and midlife and risk of breast cancer in older women

“…As previously stated, for this analysis our main focus is on meat, including salted and smoked meat, milk, rye bread, oatmeal and whole wheat bread. We have previously published analysis on fish and cod liver oil from this same cohort [ 27 ] while analysis on fruits and vegetables were not conducted due to very low consumption on a daily basis for both adolescence and midlife. However, all food groups, as described above, were included in the dietary pattern analysis (see supporting information).…”

“…For this study we used data from the population based AGES-Reykjavik Study, which is derived from a population with considerable variation in dietary habits in adolescence. Using the same cohort, we have previously observed a preventive role of very high fish intake in adolescence and midlife for breast cancer [ 27 ] and also the importance of earlier diet for prostate cancer risk [ 28 – 30 ]. In the present study our aim was to explore the effects of high consumption of meat, milk, and whole grain products in adolescence and midlife on breast cancer risk later in life, with a main emphasis on the adolescence period.…”

A systematic review of the determinants of seafood consumption

“…However, despite statistical significance, in Hansen-Krone et al's (33) study, the second highest percentage of people in higher education was seen in those who consumed fish 2-2•9 times/week. There was no significant association found between seafood intake and education in thirteen studies (12,19,21,22,24,31,34,44,56,65,68,70,85) .…”