Optimizing Dietary Fat to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk: Are we there Yet?

For over 70 years, long chain fatty acids have been implicated in the development and progression of breast cancer. Although the exact role remains to be elucidated, dietary factors have been implicated in approximately 35% of cancer deaths. Currently, biomarker, animal and in vitro studies suggest that the individual fatty acids have differing roles in the promotion or prevention of breast cancer development and progression. The goal of this review is to assess epidemiological, animal and cellular studies with respect to the role of dietary long chain fatty acids in breast cancer risk. Subsequently we identify the common findings in these studies, discuss important factors that may influence human studies and evaluate the current dietary fat recommendations with respect to these findings.