Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Journal of Cancer logoLink to British Journal of Cancer
. 1997;76(1):127–135. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1997.348

Effects of a low-fat high-carbohydrate diet on plasma sex hormones in premenopausal women: results from a randomized controlled trial. Canadian Diet and Breast Cancer Prevention Study Group.

N F Boyd 1, G A Lockwood 1, C V Greenberg 1, L J Martin 1, D L Tritchler 1
PMCID: PMC2223807  PMID: 9218745

Abstract

We are conducting a long-term randomized controlled trial to determine if intervention with a low-fat high-carbohydrate diet reduces breast cancer risk. The present study examines the effects of 2 years of dietary intervention on serum sex hormone levels in premenopausal women. Subjects with extensive mammographic densities were enrolled in a dietary intervention trial. The intervention involved intensive individual counselling aimed at reducing total dietary fat to 15% of calories. Control subjects received general advice about diet but were not counselled to change their fat intake. Serum sex hormone levels were measured in 220 premenopausal subjects at entry and 2 years after randomization. Two years after randomization oestradiol levels were 20% (70 pmol l(-1)) lower (P = 0.04) and progesterone levels were 35% (1.0 nmol l(-1)) lower (P = 0.004) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels were 7% (1 IU) higher (P = 0.38) in the intervention group than in the control group. The FSH-oestradiol ratio was 13% higher in the intervention group (P = 0.18). Samples analysed accounting for the timing of the blood sample in relation to the menstrual cycle showed that, in the intervention group, oestradiol and progesterone levels were lower and FSH levels higher in subjects with blood samples taken more than 30 days after the last menstrual period. Because of the strong evidence linking ovarian hormonal activity to breast cancer risk, these results suggest that a low-fat high-carbohydrate diet may reduce risk of breast cancer by reducing exposure to ovarian hormones that are a stimulus to cell division in the breast.

Full text

PDF
130

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Armstrong B. K., Brown J. B., Clarke H. T., Crooke D. K., Hähnel R., Masarei J. R., Ratajczak T. Diet and reproductive hormones: a study of vegetarian and nonvegetarian postmenopausal women. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1981 Oct;67(4):761–767. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bernstein L., Ross R. K. Endogenous hormones and breast cancer risk. Epidemiol Rev. 1993;15(1):48–65. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.epirev.a036116. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bernstein L., Yuan J. M., Ross R. K., Pike M. C., Hanisch R., Lobo R., Stanczyk F., Gao Y. T., Henderson B. E. Serum hormone levels in pre-menopausal Chinese women in Shanghai and white women in Los Angeles: results from two breast cancer case-control studies. Cancer Causes Control. 1990 Jul;1(1):51–58. doi: 10.1007/BF00053183. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Boyd N. F., Martin L. J., Noffel M., Lockwood G. A., Trichler D. L. A meta-analysis of studies of dietary fat and breast cancer risk. Br J Cancer. 1993 Sep;68(3):627–636. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1993.398. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Freedman L. S., Clifford C., Messina M. Analysis of dietary fat, calories, body weight, and the development of mammary tumors in rats and mice: a review. Cancer Res. 1990 Sep 15;50(18):5710–5719. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Goldin B. R., Adlercreutz H., Gorbach S. L., Warram J. H., Dwyer J. T., Swenson L., Woods M. N. Estrogen excretion patterns and plasma levels in vegetarian and omnivorous women. N Engl J Med. 1982 Dec 16;307(25):1542–1547. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198212163072502. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Goldin B. R., Adlercreutz H., Gorbach S. L., Woods M. N., Dwyer J. T., Conlon T., Bohn E., Gershoff S. N. The relationship between estrogen levels and diets of Caucasian American and Oriental immigrant women. Am J Clin Nutr. 1986 Dec;44(6):945–953. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/44.6.945. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Goodwin P. J., Boyd N. F. Critical appraisal of the evidence that dietary fat intake is related to breast cancer risk in humans. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1987 Sep;79(3):473–485. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Gray G. E., Pike M. C., Hirayama T., Tellez J., Gerkins V., Brown J. B., Casagrande J. T., Henderson B. E. Diet and hormone profiles in teenage girls in four countries at different risk for breast cancer. Prev Med. 1982 Jan;11(1):108–113. doi: 10.1016/0091-7435(82)90010-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hayward J. L., Greenwood F. C., Glober G., Stemmerman G., Bulbrook R. D., Wang D. Y., Kumaokas S. Endocrine status in normal British, Japanese and Hawaiian-Japanese women. Eur J Cancer. 1978 Nov;14(11):1221–1228. doi: 10.1016/0014-2964(78)90228-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hunter D. J., Spiegelman D., Adami H. O., Beeson L., van den Brandt P. A., Folsom A. R., Fraser G. E., Goldbohm R. A., Graham S., Howe G. R. Cohort studies of fat intake and the risk of breast cancer--a pooled analysis. N Engl J Med. 1996 Feb 8;334(6):356–361. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199602083340603. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kelsey J. L., Gammon M. D., John E. M. Reproductive factors and breast cancer. Epidemiol Rev. 1993;15(1):36–47. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.epirev.a036115. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kelsey J. L., Horn-Ross P. L. Breast cancer: magnitude of the problem and descriptive epidemiology. Epidemiol Rev. 1993;15(1):7–16. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.epirev.a036118. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Key T. J., Chen J., Wang D. Y., Pike M. C., Boreham J. Sex hormones in women in rural China and in Britain. Br J Cancer. 1990 Oct;62(4):631–636. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1990.344. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Key T. J., Pike M. C. The role of oestrogens and progestagens in the epidemiology and prevention of breast cancer. Eur J Cancer Clin Oncol. 1988 Jan;24(1):29–43. doi: 10.1016/0277-5379(88)90173-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. MacMahon B., Cole P., Brown J. B., Aoki K., Lin T. M., Morgan R. W., Woo N. C. Urine oestrogen profiles of Asian and North American women. Int J Cancer. 1974 Aug 15;14(2):161–167. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910140204. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. McMichael A. J., Giles G. G. Cancer in migrants to Australia: extending the descriptive epidemiological data. Cancer Res. 1988 Feb 1;48(3):751–756. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Prentice R. L., Kakar F., Hursting S., Sheppard L., Klein R., Kushi L. H. Aspects of the rationale for the Women's Health Trial. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1988 Aug 3;80(11):802–814. doi: 10.1093/jnci/80.11.802. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Prentice R. L., Sheppard L. Dietary fat and cancer: consistency of the epidemiologic data, and disease prevention that may follow from a practical reduction in fat consumption. Cancer Causes Control. 1990 Jul;1(1):81–109. doi: 10.1007/BF00053187. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Prentice R., Thompson D., Clifford C., Gorbach S., Goldin B., Byar D. Dietary fat reduction and plasma estradiol concentration in healthy postmenopausal women. The Women's Health Trial Study Group. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1990 Jan 17;82(2):129–134. doi: 10.1093/jnci/82.2.129. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Rogers A. E., Lee S. Y. Chemically-induced mammary gland tumors in rats: modulation by dietary fat. Prog Clin Biol Res. 1986;222:255–282. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Rose D. P., Boyar A. P., Cohen C., Strong L. E. Effect of a low-fat diet on hormone levels in women with cystic breast disease. I. Serum steroids and gonadotropins. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1987 Apr;78(4):623–626. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Rose D. P., Goldman M., Connolly J. M., Strong L. E. High-fiber diet reduces serum estrogen concentrations in premenopausal women. Am J Clin Nutr. 1991 Sep;54(3):520–525. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/54.3.520. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Sherman B. M., West J. H., Korenman S. G. The menopausal transition: analysis of LH, FSH, estradiol, and progesterone concentrations during menstrual cycles of older women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1976 Apr;42(4):629–636. doi: 10.1210/jcem-42-4-629. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Shimizu H., Ross R. K., Bernstein L., Pike M. C., Henderson B. E. Serum oestrogen levels in postmenopausal women: comparison of American whites and Japanese in Japan. Br J Cancer. 1990 Sep;62(3):451–453. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1990.316. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Toniolo P. G., Levitz M., Zeleniuch-Jacquotte A., Banerjee S., Koenig K. L., Shore R. E., Strax P., Pasternack B. S. A prospective study of endogenous estrogens and breast cancer in postmenopausal women. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1995 Feb 1;87(3):190–197. doi: 10.1093/jnci/87.3.190. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Willett W. C., Hunter D. J., Stampfer M. J., Colditz G., Manson J. E., Spiegelman D., Rosner B., Hennekens C. H., Speizer F. E. Dietary fat and fiber in relation to risk of breast cancer. An 8-year follow-up. JAMA. 1992 Oct 21;268(15):2037–2044. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Woods M. N., Gorbach S. L., Longcope C., Goldin B. R., Dwyer J. T., Morrill-LaBrode A. Low-fat, high-fiber diet and serum estrone sulfate in premenopausal women. Am J Clin Nutr. 1989 Jun;49(6):1179–1183. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/49.6.1179. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Cancer are provided here courtesy of Cancer Research UK

RESOURCES