Breast cancer (BC) is the primary cause of death from malignant tumors in women worldwide.
Objective: Review epidemiological studies from the Latin-America and Caribbean (LAC) region.
Material and methods: A systematic search, carried out during June-November 2008 in Mexico of PubMed/Medline, Scielo, and Google identified 27 epidemiological studies in LAC that evaluated associations between diet and BC.
Results: The research on diet and BC suggests the protective effect of certain fruits, vegetables, fish, fiber, vitamin B(12), folate, various phytoestrogens, lycopene, and polyunsaturated fats; as well as the potential risk associated with elevated caloric consumption, consumption of red meat and processed meats, certain meat cooking techniques, milk and some other dairy products, saturated fat, and sucrose.
Conclusions: The impact of specific foods and nutrients on breast cancer incidence is inconclusive. Further research is needed on this topic.