Word: breast
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...Most experts on the disease agree that part of the increase can be attributed to earlier detection of tumors. Some 65% of American women over 40 have had a mammogram, up from about 20% in 1979. The widespread use of this tool, a low-dose X ray of the breasts, has meant that more women are discovering their tumors in the early stages, before a lump can be felt. In past decades, prior to the spread of mammography, such women might have died of other causes before their breast cancer was diagnosed...
Nonetheless, most investigators of the epidemic believe early detection is only part of the story. They look at the fact that breast cancer is far less common in other parts of the world and conclude, ominously, that the answer lies in some facet of the American life-style. "Something in our environment is contributing," contends Dr. Marc Lippman of Georgetown University...
...around the world are pointing to another component of the Western way of life: a diet rich in fat. Researchers have known for more than 40 years that high-fat diets promote the growth of mammary tumors in laboratory animals. They have also observed that the varying rates of breast cancer in various countries correlate neatly with the amount of fat in a nation's diet. The U.S., Britain and the Netherlands, which have some of the world's richest diets, also have among the highest breast-cancer rates. Meanwhile, in countries such as Japan, Singapore and Romania, where...
...theory that genetic factors might be responsible for such national variations, researchers have looked at immigrant groups. They have found that when Japanese move to the U.S., or Italians to Australia, their previously low breast-cancer mortality rate rises to match the higher rate of their adopted country within a generation or two, as diet and life-style change. "The results are too consistent to believe that the association is indirect," says Maureen Henderson, an epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. When it comes to the breast cancer-fat connection, she says flatly, "I'm sure...
Japanese researchers are also convinced. Breast cancer is one of the fastest-growing diseases among Japanese women, with the incidence up 58% between 1975 and 1985. "The largest factor behind the sharp rise is the Westernization of eating habits," says Dr. Akira Eboshida, chief deputy director of the Health and Welfare Ministry's Disease Control Division. "We are eating more animal fat and less fiber." Cancer of the breast is not the only ailment rising with the larding of the Japanese diet. Heart disease is also surging, as is cancer of the colon, ovaries and prostate. All have been linked...