Girls who eat chips increase their risk of breast cancer

Girls often eat chips are exposed to an increased risk of breast cancer in adulthood, say U.S. researchers.

"Researchers are finding more and more evidence that diet early in life plays a role in the development of diseases in women later," said Dr. Karin Michels of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School.

From a cohort study of U.S. nurses, Dr. Michels and colleagues followed 582 women with breast cancer and 1,569 women without breast cancer in 1993.

They found that each additional serving of fries per week at ages 3 to 5 years increased the risk of breast cancer by 27%.

"This study provides additional evidence that breast cancer have an origin dating back to the early life of a woman and her eating habits at this early stage could be important to reduce future risk of breast cancer" says researcher whose study is published in the International Journal of Cancer.

Nevertheless, the results should be interpreted with caution because the quantities of chips eaten were reported by the mothers of women in the study years later.

A high fat diet has been associated with breast cancer.