Breast Cancer linked to Trans-fats

Trans-fats, which are found in baked goods, snacks, and cooking fats, among other things are already known to clog arteries, and are therefore being phased out of foods. What some might not have known is that they raise the risk of getting breast cancer, according to European researchers.

On Friday, a report was released that found that women with the lowest levels of trans-fats in their blood had half the risk of breast cancer when compared to those with the highest blood levels of trans-fats.

These fats and their acids are made in the process of hydrogenization, and other ways of creating artificially hardened fats. Ironically, trans-fats were originally supposed to replace saturated fats which also clog arteries.

The solidification process actually made these products just as unhealthy as butter. Some states and countries have banned trans-fats from restaurants and several companies have dropped them as ingredients completely.

Researchers aren’t quite sure what to do. “At this stage, we can only recommend limiting the consumption of processed foods, the source of industrially produced trans-fatty acid," they scribed in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Women who took part in a large European cancer trial were studied by Veronique Chajes of the French national scientific research center at the University of Paris-South and her colleagues.

Chajes viewed blood samples collected between 1995 and 1998 from 25,000 women who had been followed for years to see if they developed cancer after previously volunteering to report on their eating and lifestyle habits.

Blood levels of fatty acids were studied in 363 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer and compared with those of women without cancer. Chajes determined that the cancer was correlated with higher levels of trans-fatty acids.

Not only are these trans-fatty acids a culprit; so are omega-3 fatty acids such as those found in salmon, walnuts and leafy vegetables.

Women who are obese or have high-fat diets are also more likely to develop breast cancer than others.