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For the last twenty years, we preached that switching to a low fat diet was protective against breast cancer. We were wrong. A new study published in the February 6 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed no significant benefit to women who lowered their fat intake.
The logic for promoting a low fat diet to lower risk of breast cancer was simple enough. High fat diets increase estrogen production. Higher estrogen levels are associated with higher risk of developing breast cancer. In parts of the world where fat intake is low, the risk of breast cancer is also low.
The classic example is Thailand where women have a drastically a lower breast cancer rate than in the United States. Fat intake in Thailand is also a fraction of what it is here. High fat diets are associated with earlier onset of puberty and the increased number of menstrual cycles a woman undergoes logically should increase risk. But, who says the answers in life have to be this simple or simple at all? To quote Park Hill artist and philosopher Peg Meagher, “Biology is messy.” Just because this explanation sounded reasonable and some early studies lent support to it did not make it true.
The JAMA study reported on an eight-year experiment, which followed 19,541 women eating a low fat diet and compared the number that developed breast cancer to a group of 29,941 women who continued on a regular diet. The data showed no significant statistical differences in the number of women who developed breast cancer.
The low fat diet group developed 655 cases of breast cancer compared to1,072 in the control group (those who had the regular diet). The control group was larger so the actual percentages of women who developed cancer were 3.35 percent for the women following a low fat diet compared to 3.66 percent for the women who continued to happily eat the way they wanted. This small difference was not statistically different and it certainly wasn't the major difference in cancer rates that had been predicted.
Critics will argue that the low fat dieters still ate too much fat; in the end, 29 percent of their daily calories came from fat compared to 37 percent for the control group. Others will say the study didn't go on long enough. Would conducting the study for 20 years yield different results than the eight years the women were followed in this study? Conducting this study came with a $410 million price tag, so it is unlikely anyone will be in a rush to run a longer version. Most reasonable people will and should read this study and understand that lowering dietary fat will not prevent breast cancer.
Not only did the data show no change in breast cancer risk, there were also no reductions in risks for colon cancer, heart disease, stroke, or cardiovascular disease in the women attempting to eat less fat.
It is interesting how much medical opinion can change over the years. For many this instability is difficult. For some people it's as dramatic as switching their faith from church to science for an explanation of their place in the universe. They seek the same emotional support from science and modern medicine as they once did from religion. Scientific understanding changes over time and offers little in the way of enduring dogma when it comes to how to live one's life. But enough philosophizing.
This shift in scientific opinion regarding fat couldn't be better timed. Joseph's Restaurant at 29th Ave. and Fairfax Street was closed to redecorate for an unendurably long time. It has finally reopened. Friday night is fish night at Joseph's and it is with great pleasure that I tell you their cooking is as good as ever. Joseph's is one of those little things that make living in Park Hill a pleasure.
Southern comfort food is probably the best way to describe it. I confess to not growing up eating collard greens, but they still give me pleasure. If you haven't had the comfort of taking a meal home from Joseph's, then you should. It's take-out only and the deep fat fryer is very well used. Joseph's offers a choice of five fishes, chicken and shrimp deep-fried to crisp perfection. There are sides of fried yams, hush puppies, collard greens, fried okra and home made coleslaw. Simple but good.
Now that we can worry a little less about our fat consumption, we can enjoy Joseph's meals with less guilt and with even greater pleasure.
Jacob Schor, N.D. majored in Food Science and Product Development as an undergraduate at Cornell University, and received his doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine at National College in Portland, Oregon in 1991. He served as President of the Colorado Association of Naturopathic Physicians from 1992-1999 and maintains a private practice at the Denver Naturopathic Clinic.