CLA Shows No Effect on Breast Cancer

STOCKHOLM, SwedenResults from a recent study provide no evidence of a protective effect of conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) against breast cancer development in women (Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;90:556-560). In 1987 to 1990, 61,433 cancer-free women completed a food-frequency questionnaire from which researchers estimated each woman's CLA intake.

During a mean follow-up of 17.4 years, 2,952 incident cases of breast cancer were ascertained. In multivariate analyses, no significant association was observed between dietary CLA intake and risk of breast cancer, overall or by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status. The multivariate relative risks for the highest quintile of CLA intake (155.7 mg/d) compared with the lowest quintile (<78.1 mg/d) were 1.04  for overall breast cancer, 1.09 for ER+/PR+ tumors, 1.09 for ER+/PR tumors, and 0.84 for ER/PR tumors.