An excess of omega-6 fats in the diet appears to accelerate breast cancer by altering the activity of a group of genes, report Spanish researchers. Their findings identify a new genetic mechanism that could explain the link between diet, and particularly certain fats, and breast cancer, the most frequent form of cancer in women around the world. Nutritional factors have long been considered important in the development of breast cancer. Higher rates of the disease in the developed world support the impact of lifestyle and environmental factors, such as high consumption of animal and certain vegetable fats. But now researchers at the Departament de Biologia Cellular, de Fisiologia i d’Immunologia of the Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona have identified four genes, one which has a completely unknown function, whose expression may be involved in the impact of dietary lipids.
