The objective of The Women’s Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Randomized Trial was to: ¹

The conclusion of this “controlled trial of dietary change in 3088 women previously treated for early stage breast cancer” was:

The study was a randomized controlled trial of dietary change in 3088 women previously treated for early stage breast cancer who were 18 to 70 years old at diagnosis. ^{2 3 4}

The intervention group consisted of 1,537 women randomly assigned to receive a telephone counselling program supplemented with cooking classes and newsletters that promoted daily targets of 5 vegetable servings plus 16 oz (470 ml) of vegetable juice; 3 fruit servings; 30 g of fiber; and 15% to 20% of energy intake from fat.

The comparison group consisted of 1,551 women who were provided with print materials describing the “5-A-Day” dietary guidelines.

Let’s look at the figures from the paper. The column Change is the change from Baseline to 72 months.

It appears that the authors are deliberately being deceptive. The study states that:

It is important to note that the reported values are averages. If the goal is to reach a particular outcome, such as a recommended fiber intake, then all participants should be meeting the target.

 Harvard Nurses’ Health Study

The Harvard Nurses’ Health Study is another famous study that showed diet did NOT have an effect on breast cancer. Nearly 90,000 nurses were studied for 20 years. They were divided into 10 groups based on the fat intake as a % of energy. The group with the lowest fat consumption ate less than 20% fat with the highest group consuming more than 49%. However, the risk of breast cancer remained the similar in the 10 groups.

The study did show that:

Replacing whole milk (50% energy from fat) with low-fat milk (33% energy from fat), replacing red meat with fish and poultry and consuming low-fat deserts is does not constitute a low-fat diet.

Once again the study is comparing different versions of an unhealthy, high-fat, high-protein, high animal-based diet and finding out that that there is no real difference in the outcomes.

Fat and Cancer

Below is a graph from the paper Fat and Cancer ⁵ by Kenneth Carroll.

It shows a strong correlation with saturated fat intake and death rate from breast cancer.  However, the emphasis that fat and fat alone is implicated in breast cancers is a mistake.  It is important to note that there is:

Last updated on Wednesday 29 January 2025 at 07:02 by administrators

1. J. P. Pierce, L. Natarajan, B. J. Caan et al “Influence of a diet very high in vegetables, fruit, and fiber and low in fat on prognosis following treatment for breast cancer,” Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 298, no. 3, pp. 289–298, 2007.
2. Prentice, R. L. et al. (2006) Low-Fat Dietary Pattern and Risk of Invasive Breast Cancer: The Women’s Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Dietary Modification Trial Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey. 61 (7), 454–456.
3. Howard, B. V. et al. (2006) Low-Fat Dietary Pattern and Weight Change Over 7 Years: The Women’s Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial. Journal of American Medical Association. 295 (1), 39.
4. Howard, B. V. et al. (2006) Low-Fat Dietary Pattern and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: The Women’s Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Dietary Modification Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association. 295 (6), 655.
5. K. Carroll, L. Braden, J. Bell, and R. Kalamegham, “Fat and Cancer,” Cancer, vol. 58, pp. 1818–1825, 1986.