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Health and medicine

Study: Reducing fat doesn't reduce risks for older women

CHICAGO - Eating less fat late in life failed to lower the risk of cancer and heart disease among older women, disappointing news for those who expected greater benefits from a healthy diet.

Even so, scientists say the results from the government study of 48,835 women don't mean dieters should give up.

Researchers suggested that the women in the long-running study - with an average age of 62 - may have started their healthy eating too late. They also didn't reduce fats as much as the diet demanded, and most remained overweight, a major risk factor for cancer and heart problems.

"These results do not suggest that people have carte blanche to eat fatty foods without health problems," said Dr. JoAnn Manson of Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital, a co-author of the study.

The eight-year study showed no difference in the rate of breast cancer, colon cancer and heart disease among those who ate lower-fat diets and those who didn't.

But the scientists declined to call the $415-million venture a failure, pointing to signs of less breast cancer in women who cut out the most fat, and less heart disease in women who ate low amounts of the worst kinds of fats.

The research involved postmenopausal women who either cut fat consumption and increased vegetables, fruits and grains, or who kept their usual eating habits.

"The results, of course, are somewhat disappointing. We would have liked this dietary intervention to have a major impact on health," Manson said.

The study appears in Journal of the American Medical Association.

[Last modified February 8, 2006, 01:16:09]