Diet across the Lifespan and the Association with Breast Density in Adulthood

Table 11

Summary of nutrient relationships with breast density and their proposed mechanisms.

Nutrients that are associated with a ↓ in breast density (absolute density or % breast density)
Premenopausal women: ↑intakes of:	Mechanism of action (i.e., IGF/IGFBP/E2/ROS)
Calcium	May ameliorate IGF action and enhances IGFBP action, ↑IGF (?)
Vitamin D	May ameliorate IGF action and enhances IGFBP action, breast tissue may be able to locally synthesis 25(OH)D→1,25(OH)2D
SFA (?)	(?)
Total dairy	↑IGF, ↑IGFBP, vitamin D and calcium may negate these effects (VD and Ca have stronger effects when IGF/IGFBP are high)
Cheese consumption	↑IGF, ↑IGFBP, vitamin D and calcium may negate these effects (VD and Ca have stronger effects when IGF/IGFBP are high)
Carbohydrate (?)	↑IGF (need to distinguish between whole v. refined, many studies do not do this)
Red Wine	↓Oxidative stress (?)
MUFA	↓Oxidative stress (?)
Carotenoids	↓Oxidative stress (?), ↑IGFBP
Fiber	↓Oxidative stress (?), may ↑SHBG, ↑IGFBP

SFA: saturated fatty acids; MUFA: monounsaturated fatty acids; n-6 FA: omega-6 fatty acids; PUFA: polyunsaturated fatty acids; MVMM: multivitamin/multimineral supplements; IGF: insulin growth factor; IGFBP: insulin growth factor binding proteins; SHBG: sex hormone binding globulin; VD: vitamin d; Ca: calcium.