HHS HealthBeat (August 16, 2007)

The meat-sweet diet

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

The meat-sweet diet. Sounds like fun? Maybe not. It’s how researcher Marilyn Tseng of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia describes the way we eat – which also is the way more people in Shanghai, China have been eating.

Tseng compared breast cancer risk in women who ate more meat, sweets and starches, and women who ate more vegetables and soy.

``The women who had high intake of the meat-sweet pattern were at increased risk for breast cancer – specifically, the postmenopausal women, not so much in the premenopausal women.’’  (11 seconds)

Tseng found the risk noticeable among overweight Shanghai women eating a Westernized diet.  She advises American women to work on weight control, and try to replace some meat and sweets with vegetables.

The study in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: August, 16 2007