The risk of developing premenopausal breast cancer may be higher for women who have a poor diet during adolescence and early adulthood, new research finds.

Share on Pinterest Researchers have associated an unhealthful diet in adolescence or early adulthood with greater risk of developing premenopausal breast cancer.

Previous studies have associated an unhealthful diet – particularly one that is low in vegetables, high in refined sugar and carbohydrates, and high in red and processed meats – with chronic inflammation, which may raise the risk of certain cancers.

According to the new study, it is this diet-induced inflammation that may increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer prior to menopause.

Study co-author Karin B. Michels, Ph.D. – professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California-Los Angeles – and colleagues recently reported their findings in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States. This year, around 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed, and more than 40,000 women will die from the disease.

“About 12 percent of women in the U.S. develop breast cancer in their lifetimes,” notes Michels. “However, each woman’s breast cancer risk is different based on numerous factors, including genetic predisposition, demographics, and lifestyle.”

For this latest study, Michels and colleagues set out to determine how a pro-inflammatory diet during adolescence or early adulthood might influence women’s risk of breast cancer in later life.