Breast Cancer Survival, Butterfat, and Chicken

By: Dr. Michael Greger, Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States.

Though small consolation, one benefit of the fact that breast cancer is now the #1 cancer among women is that breast cancer survival is a very active area of research. For example, this major 2011 study, which followed about 4000 woman, with breast cancer, for 7 years.
Not all of them made it.

The researchers tried to figure out if there were any dietary factors that may have been associated with their early demise. They found two things, and the first was saturated fat intake. Those women who ate the most saturated fat after diagnosis increased their disk of dying in those 7 years by 41%.

So where is saturated fat found in our diet so we can avoid it?

First thing people tend to think of when they think of saturated fat is beef, like a big fat juicy steak. But no, beef doesn’t even make the top 5.
This is from the National Cancer Institute. #1 cheese, #2 pizza, which is basically another way of saying cheese. #3 is grain-based desserts, which means primarily cakes, cookies, and doughnuts, which is why pink doughnuts may not be the best way to celebrate breast cancer awareness month, then #4 ice cream, and #5 chicken.

You thought pink doughnuts were bad? I’m not making this up. And of course grilling and frying meats makes them particularly carcinogenic due to heterocyclic amine formation, so KFC better donate to breast cancer research.

You’ve heard me talk about this before. Chicken is not a low fat food—even skinless and steamed, and in fact one of the top five contributors of saturated fat in the American diet.

Thencomes pork, burgers, Mexi—which uses lots of lard—beef, and reduced fat milk, which is only 2% fat—by weight, but by calories, which is what matters in the body, reduced fat milk is 30% fat. It’s like if you took a stick of butter, and dunked it into a cup of water and said see now it’s only 50% fat. No, it’s a 100% fat, the water doesn’t count.

But anyways these are the top ten foods to stay away from to decrease our saturated fat intake, which may not only help prevent breast cancer in the first place, but to improve survival for those that have it.

About Michael Greger M.D.
Michael Greger, M.D., is a physician, author, and internationally recognized professional speaker on a number of important public health issues. Dr. Greger has lectured at the Conference on World Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and the International Bird Flu Summit, testified before Congress, appeared on The Dr. Oz Show and The Colbert Report, and was invited as an expert witness in defense of Oprah Winfrey at the infamous “meat defamation” trial. Currently Dr. Greger proudly serves as the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States.