Dietary habits and breast cancer: a comparative study of United States and Italian data.

Dietary habits in the United States and northern and southern Italy were compared and related to mortality rates for breast cancer. In 1981, southern Italy had the lowest breast cancer mortality rate (19.1 deaths in 100,000), followed by northern Italy (26.1 in 100,000) and the United States (27.1 in 100,000). Among the dietary variables, meat intake was twice as high in the United States as in southern Italy; bread, pasta, and fruit intakes were almost twofold greater in Italy than in the United States. Consumption of saturated fats and linoleic acid was lower and consumption of monounsaturated lipids was higher in southern Italy than in the United States. Our data confirm that diet influences the development of breast cancer. The role of dietary fats and fibers on breast cancer risk, as well as the type of fats consumed, needs further investigation.