Teens Who Eat Saturated Fat Can Increase Risk For Breast Cancer, Study Finds

Researchers say there is a link between the amount of saturated girls consume as teenagers and their breast density later in life. For the study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, researchers had 177 girls between the ages of 10 and 18 fill out questionnaires about their diet on five occasions. They found that women who had eaten higher amounts of saturated fat—the kind found in meat and dairy products such as cheese, butter, and milk—as teens had denser breasts in their 20s. Denser breasts can make it harder for radiologists to spot tumors on a mammogram. Denser breast tissue is also thought to raise a woman's odds of developing breast cancer.