High-fat dairy holds higher death risk for women with breast cancer

WASHINGTON – No one wants to hear it, but women may want to heed it: Give up ice cream.

A new study published in Thursday’s Journal of the National Cancer Institute finds breast cancer survivors who ate even one serving of a high-fat dairy product a day were at a 49 percent higher risk of dying from breast cancer compared with those who eat little or no high-fat dairy, Reuters reports.

According to the study, low-fat dairy wasn’t related to a high mortality rate after a breast cancer diagnosis.

Additionally, those eating high-fat dairy had a 64 percent higher risk of dying from any cause compared with the other group.

Nearly 1,900 women took part in the study that lasted almost 12 years.

“A total of 349 women had a recurrence and 372 died during a median follow-up of 11.8 years, with 189 deaths from breast cancer,” says the abstract version of the study.

WTOP’s Brennan Haselton contributed to this report. Follow @bhaseltonWTOP, @WTOPliving and @WTOP on Twitter.

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