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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 89/1/265    most recent ajcn.2008.26077v1 Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Shannon, J. Articles by Thomas, D. B Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Shannon, J. Articles by Thomas, D. B Agricola Articles by Shannon, J. Articles by Thomas, D. B

Erythrocyte fatty acids and risk of proliferative and nonproliferative fibrocystic disease in women in Shanghai, China^1,2,3

¹ From the Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR (JS); the Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA (IBK, JWL, RMR, M-GL, and DBT); the Department of Epidemiology, Zhong Shan Hospital Cancer Center, Shanghai, China (DLG); and the Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway (HS).

² Supported by grant R01-CA 75332 from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services.

³ Reprints not available. Address correspondence to J Shannon, Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology, Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 Southwest Sam Jackson Park Road, L606, Portland, OR 97239. E-mail: shannoja{at}ohsu.edu.

Background: Although benign breast changes are more common than breast cancer, little evidence regarding risk factors for benign breast conditions is available. Omega-3 (n–3) fatty acids have antiinflammatory and antiproliferative actions and may be important in reducing the risk of benign conditions. There is a lack of research on the association of n–3 fatty acids with risk of benign fibrocystic breast changes.

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to evaluate the role of n–3 and other fatty acids in the development of benign proliferative fibrocystic conditions (PFCs) and nonproliferative fibrocystic conditions (NPFCs) in the breast and to evaluate the progression of fibrocystic changes in breast cancer.

Design: We conducted a case-control study to determine erythrocyte fatty acid concentrations in 155 women with NPFCs, 185 women with PFCs, 241 women with breast cancer (127 with nonproliferative and 114 with proliferative changes in the noncancerous extratumoral mammary epithelium), and 1030 control subjects. We estimated the relative risk of NPFCs, PFCs, and breast cancer with proliferative and nonproliferative changes in extratumoral tissue compared with the risk of these changes alone.

Results: Women in the highest quartile of eicosapentaenoic acid concentrations were 67% less likely to have an NPFC alone or with breast cancer and 49% less likely to have breast cancer than were women with PFCs. -Linolenic acid (18:3n–6) was positively associated with all fibrocystic and cancerous conditions. Palmitic:palmitoleic acid (n–7 saturation index) was inversely associated with risk in all comparisons.

Conclusion: Our results support a protective effects of n–3 fatty acid intake and the n–7 saturation index against benign fibrocystic breast changes and the progression of proliferative changes to breast cancer.

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