Western diet ups S. Korea breast cancer rate

Breast cancer among South Korean women is increasing at a rapid rate due in part to a more Western lifestyle and consumption of more fatty foods, according to a paper made available on Tuesday.

In the paper published in the February issue of the Archives of Surgery, a Journal of the American Medical Association publication, South Korean scientists found that South Korean women have increased risk factors for breast cancer in recent years.

"We believe that the younger generations of Korean women have been directly affected by the progressive Westernisation of the Korean lifestyle," the authors wrote.

Medical researchers at South Korea's University of Ulsan and Asan Medical Center, based in Seoul, analysed data from a group of 5,001 women who underwent surgery for breast cancer at the hospital from between July 1989 and March 2004.

Apart from diet, the authors did not mention any specifics about how South Korean lifestyles have become more Westernised. However, other studies have shown that in recent years, South Korean women are having babies later in life and fewer of them than previous generations.

The study found that the proportion of patients with risk factors such as late menopause, high-fat diets and obesity had increased dramatically between 1996 and 2000.

The study found that while the rate of breast cancer in South Korea was still much lower than in Western countries, the incidence of breast cancer in South Korea was increasing at a rate that was more rapid than the world average, the study said.

"The present results suggest that the rate of breast cancer in Korea will continue to increase owing to Westernised lifestyles, and the clinical characteristics of Korean breast cancer are now reflecting the patterns of Western countries," they wrote.

The authors said more efforts should be made in South Korea for early detection and screening for breast cancer.

Last year, a team of researchers at Seoul National University said in a separate study that the number of South Korean women who will die from breast cancer will likely rise in 2020 to over 3,000 from just over 1,000 in 2000.

That study from the Medical College of Seoul National University said one of the reasons came from a change in the diet where South Korean women were eating more high-fat Western foods.

The U.N. World Health Organisation said breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide and the authors of the study at Asan Medical Center said data indicates 1 million women worldwide develop breast cancer each year. (With additional reporting by Lee Jin-joo)

SOURCE: Archives of Surgery, February, 2006.