Posted on 08/18/2005 2:40:21 PM PDT by churchillbuff
Very young children who eat French fries frequently have a much higher risk of breast cancer as adults, U.S. researchers reported Wednesday.
A study of American nurses found that one additional serving of fries per week at ages three to five increased breast cancer risk by 27 percent.
"Researchers are finding more evidence that diet early in life could play a role in the development of diseases in women later in life," said Dr. Karin Michels, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School, who led the study.
"This study provides additional evidence that breast cancer may originate during the early phases of a woman's life and that eating habits during that phase may be particularly important to reduce future risk of breast cancer."
For their study, Michels and colleagues used an ongoing survey of female registered nurses. They studied 582 women with breast cancer and 1,569 women free of breast cancer in 1993.
Writing in the International Journal of Cancer, the researchers said they looked at the women's diets and at questionnaires filled out by the mothers of the participants.
One risk factor for breast cancer stood out: women whose mothers who said their daughters ate French fries had a higher risk of breast cancer. This increased 27 percent for each weekly serving reportedly eaten.
"These data have to be interpreted cautiously since the observed association between consumption of French fries and breast cancer is dependent on the validity of the maternal recall of the diet," said Michels.
"Mothers were asked to recall their daughter's preschool diet after the participants' breast cancer status was known and it is possible that mothers of women with breast cancer recalled their daughter's diet differently than mothers of healthy women," she added.
"Other foods perceived as less healthy such as hot dogs or ice cream however, were not associated with breast cancer risk."
A high-fat diet has been linked with breast cancer, which affects more than 200,000 U.S. women a year and is expected to kill 40,000 this year.
ROAD APPLES!!!!!
I'm not sure, but I'd be willing to bet SUVs play a role in this somehow.
You just can't trust those damned French... fries.
I wonder whether this includes Tater Tots. They were a childhood dietary staple.
They have pretty much come up with nothing worth thinking about, IMO. They are relying on the recollections of the mothers of the participants in the study.
Dr. Karin Michels, who led the study."These data have to be interpreted cautiously since the observed association between consumption of French fries and breast cancer is dependent on the validity of the maternal recall of the diet."
Sure, but which is the cause and which the effect?
Those damn French! It's part of their evil plot for world surrender.
...one additional serving of fries per week at ages three to five increased breast cancer risk by 27 percent...
As my old prof used to say, the First Rule of Statistics is that CORRELATION DOES NOT PROVE CAUSATION. And, as he also used to say, it's the first rule forgotten.
What % turn out to be moonbats?
As George Carlin said, "The Surgeon General warned today that saliva causes stomach cancer. BUT....apparently only when swallowed in small amounts over a long period of time."
This is irrational. How could any adult accurately remember what he or she ate or didn't eat between the ages of 3-5?????
Oh, sure! Stay inside with all the concentrated radon, formaldahyde fumes, CO, mold spores, volatile paint solvants....
Do you think they controlled for obesity? Maybe poor eating habits when young correlate with poor habits when older, which causes cancer?
Or, if you want another plausible hypothesis: Patents who tend to feed their kids lots of fast food tend to be losers who neglect their kids' best interests, which correlates with teen smoking, which correlates with breat cancer.
But blaming potatoes cooked in oil sells more newspapers.
How the hell would they know that by one study?!!! I don't believe it!
It's more like heredity, heredity, heredity.
It's probably the ketchup.
Sue Thereza Heinz Kerry!
Whew! At least ice cream is OK! But what about that potato pancake my mother fed me 50 years ago??? /sarcasm
Even the researcher realizes there are problems analyzing data from dietary studies:
"As diet is difficult to assess, Dr. Michels is studying the degree of measurement error associated with the different diet assessment methods. She is developing improved methods to analyze dietary data in epidemiologic studies."
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/facres/michels.html
Okay, I have to ask and I'm making supper so don't have time to read the whole thread of replies.
What do they mean by french fries?
Fast food fries?
Homemade fried in veg oil?
Homemade fried in shortening?
Frozen Ore-Ida type?
What about hash browns?
What about wedges tossed with lots of olive oil and baked?
I mean, come on! SURELY the *type* of fries will have a bearing. What about all those baked potatoes dripping with butter and a dollop of sour cream I ate as a youngster?
They might as well just blame the potato.
I'm Screwed!
Maybe they kidnaped some amish kids.;)
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