Chips ‘Can Increase the Risk of Breast Cancer’

GIVING children chips even only once a week could dramatically increase the risk of breast cancer, parents have been warned.

Research published yesterday by the highly-respected Harvard Medical School raises serious fears about the safety of a food enjoyed by millions of children, both at home and at school.

Giving under-fives one portion of chips a week increases their risk of breast cancer by 27 per cent, the researchers found.

And girls who eat chips every day could be doubling their chance of developing the disease, which claims 13,000 lives a year in Britain.

The researchers believe the fat in which chips are fried causes cancer, with the young tissue found in children being particularly vulnerable to the life-threatening damage which only shows up years later.

Previous studies linked saturated or animal fats to breast cancer.

Children could also be more susceptible to the effects of acrylamide, a carcinogenic chemical found in chips.

Lead researcher Dr Karin Michels said: ‘We found girls who ate french fries once a week had a 27 per cent greater risk of developing breast cancer in later life compared to those who never or rarely ate french fries.

‘The risk increases with each serving, so it is possible eating french fries every day would double your risk.

‘We didn’t find that any other fast food or food considered unhealthy was associated with increased breast cancer risk. The french fries really stood out.

‘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 the risk of breast cancer.’ The study looked at how 30 foods eaten between the ages of three and five affect the risk of breast cancer in adulthood.

It compared the childhood diets of almost 600 nurses with breast cancer with the eating habits of women without the disease.

The women’s mothers were asked how often their daughters had eaten foods such as apples, oranges, eggs, bread, potatoes, beef burgers, ice cream, hot dogs and chips.

Eating chips once a week significantly increased the risk of breast cancer.

Eating broccoli slightly increased the risk, while drinking whole milk slightly reduced it.

Other junk foods such as ice cream and hot dogs were not linked to cancer, according to results published in the International Journal of Cancer.

Eating mashed potatoes did not affect the risk of cancer, meaning the problem could lie in the way chips are cooked. Dr Michels said: ‘The preparation of french fries, namely the use of frying fat high in saturated fats and trans-fatty acids, may be of relevance.’ Chips also contain acrylamide, which forms naturally when some starchy foods are fried, and causes cancer in rats. A recent study suggested it did not increase the risk of breast cancer in women but there is no information on how it might affect children.

Dr Michels said: ‘We have not been able to make a link between acrylamide and breast cancer in adult women but no one has ever looked at children.’

Although the study did not differentiate between different types of chips, oven and microwave chips are lower in saturated fats.

Dr Michels said further work was needed because her results could have been skewed by the mothers’ ability to remember what they fed their daughters as children.

Last night, health and nutrition experts warned parents of the dangers of giving their children junk food.

Sarah Stanner, of the British Nutrition Foundation, said: ‘Diets high in saturated fats are linked to breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer and heart disease and various other disease such as diabetes. Our advice would be for parents to try to get their children to eat more fruit and vegetables.’

Dr Ian Campbell, of the National Obesity Forum, said: ‘We know a diet high in saturated fats is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.

‘Eating chips regularly is not good for children’s weight or their nutrition and, if this study proves accurate, is not very good for their long-term cancer risk.’ Young women at high risk of breast cancer can dramatically reduce their chances of getting the disease by slimming, research suggests.

A Canadian study of 2,000 women found that, for some, losing 10lb between the ages of 18 and 30 cut the chances of breast cancer before the age of 50 by 65 per cent.

Those who benefited most all had a mutation in the gene BRCA 1 that greatly increases the risk of breast cancer.

f.macrae@dailymail.co.uk