Dairy Food Consumption and Mammographic Breast Density: The Role of Fat

Aim: This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the associations between low and high-fat dairy food (DF) intake and breast density (BD).

Materials and methods: A total of 775 premenopausal and 771 postmenopausal women recruited during screening mammography completed a food frequency questionnaire. Adjusted linear regression models were used to assess the associations.

Results: As frequency quartiles of high-fat DF consumption increased, the adjusted mean of absolute BD increased from 31.5 to 36.1 cm² for all women (p_trend=0.0034) and from 42.4 to 50.1 cm² for premenopausal women (p_trend=0.0047). Conversely, as frequency quartiles of low-fat DF consumption increased, the adjusted mean of absolute BD decreased from 34.7 to 29.6 cm² for all women (p_trend=0.001) and from 49.7 to 40.7 cm² for premenopausal women (p_trend=0.0012).

Conclusion: A higher intake of high-fat and low-fat DF is respectively associated with higher and lower BD, particularly in premenopausal women.