Cake and meat cancer scare

Eating large amounts of saturated fat - found in butter, cakes and biscuits - increases the risk of breast cancer by a fifth, doctors warned yesterday.

And women with a high meat diet are also more likely to develop the disease, a worldwide study has found.

Researchers believe the link between breast cancer and fat consumption may be unconnected to obesity and high calorie intake.

They found women who ate a lot of saturated fats - found mainly in high fat milk, cheese, butter, meat, biscuits, cakes and some cereals - were 20 per cent more likely to get the disease.

Eating large amounts of monounsaturated fats - found in olive oil and nuts - raised the risk by only ten per cent.

Meanwhile, those who ate a lot of meat were 17 per cent more likely to develop breast cancer than those who consumed little or none.

Canadian scientists at Ontario Cancer Institute combined the results from 45 different studies. The survey of 600,000 volunteers - including 25,000 breast cancer patients - underlined the importance of a healthy, balanced diet low in fat and high in fruit and vegetables, said Cancer Research UK.

Breast cancer is at an all-time high in Britain, with 40,000 new cases diagnosed each year.

The figures suggest one in nine women will be affected by the disease at some time in their lives.

Cases have risen by two per cent a year since 1999, although more patients than ever are successfully treated. Three out of four survive for at least three years.

Ginger may provide an effective weapon against cancer. US experts found it slowed the advance of bowel cancer in mice. It might have a similar effect on humans and could also combat other forms of the disease, said a team at the University of Minnesota.