The contribution of the environment (especially diet) to breast cancer risk

Abstract

Environmental factors play an important role in breast carcinogenesis. Opportunities for prevention are limited, however, because most of the known or suspected risk factors are not targets for modification. Dietary factors have generally not emerged as crucial contributors to mammary tumor causation. We still appear to be missing a critical piece of the breast cancer puzzle because we can only explain a moderate proportion of international and national variation in breast cancer rates. Research needs to pursue new avenues, focusing on exposure windows that have not yet been sufficiently explored, such as events between conception and adolescence, and on modifiable risk factors that show large variation within or between populations.