Trans-fatty acids and cancer: the evidence reviewed

Abstract

The present review comes from the authors of the recent Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) review Update on Trans Fatty Acids and Health, and focuses on assessing the strength of the evidence for a link between trans-fatty acid (trans-FA) intake and cancer. It evaluates a range of human ecological, case -control and prospective studies with trans-FA exposure assessed using either dietary assessment methods or trans-FA levels in tissues. Relevant animal studies are also presented in order to elucidate potential mechanisms. It concludes that there is weak and inconsistent evidence for a relationship between trans-FA and breast or colorectal cancer. Evidence for an association between trans-FA and prostate cancer is limited, but a recent large case -control study has shown a strong interaction between risk and trans-FA intake for the RNASEL QQ/RQ genotype that is present in about 35 % of the population. This potential association requires further investigation. The single study on non-Hodgkin's lymphoma reported a strong positive association, but only used a single assessment of dietary trans-FA made at the start of the study in 1980, and the significant changes in trans-FA intakes between then and the end of follow-up in 1994 limit the reliability of this observation. There is insufficient evidence to allow any differentiation between the effects of trans-FA from animal or vegetable origin on cancer risk.Trans-fatty acids: Cancer: Breast cancer: Colorectal cancer

Dietary transfatty acids and cancer risk

“…The inconsistent findings of TFA and breast cancer could be influenced by selection of study populations, study methods, measurement methods in fatty acid analyses, dietary assessment, different types of TFA used in various populations, or modifying effects of other risk factors for breast cancer (Thompson et al, 2008;Smith et al, 2009;Alexander et al, 2010). Overall, two case-control studies (Kohlmeier et al, 1997;Shannon et al, 2007), besides the present one, and three cohort studies (Voorrips et al, 2002;Rissanen et al, 2003;Chajès et al, 2008), reported positive associations.…”

“…A number of studies have reported that TFA consumption may affect the risk of cancer, particularly cancers of the breast, colon, and prostate (Thompson et al, 2008). An ecological study in European countries using adipose tissue fatty acid composition reported significant positive correlations between TFA and the incidence of cancers of the breast (r = 0.89) and colon (r = 0.93; Bakker et al, 1997).…”

Saturated and trans-fatty acids in UK takeaway food

“…UK guidelines (SACN report., 2007) on TFA indicate an intake of 2% of total energy (~ 5 g/day) for men and women to reduce the risk of CVD (Thompson et al, 2008). TFA intake has recently shown a reduction in the UK population to 0.7-0.9% of energy intake for all ages, which is less than the target of 2% (Pot et al, 2012).…”

Optimizing Dietary Fat to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk: Are we there Yet?

“…Dietary fatty acids contain fatty acids with both cis and trans double bonds. These trans fatty acids are largely produced by industry and in the US contribute about 2-3% of energy intake [5].…”