Diet and carcinogenesis

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Abstract
Epidemiologic and experimental evidence for a relation between high body weight and breast cancer is reviewed. A prospective study in the framework of a population-based breast cancer screening project for women over age 50 with determination of estrogen-receptor-status of cancers has provided evidence that promotion of ER-positive cases is favored by obesity and relatively inhibited by leanness. In lean postmenopausal women, clonal selection is thought to lead to a preponderance of ER-negative cells in the cancers. Initiation of breast cancer is probably unrelated to obesity. Induction of breast cancer may be rare after menopause, but existing tumors grow if they receive stimuli to which they are sensitive. A lead to further research is presented.