Association found between high cholesterol and breast cancer

They suggested lowering cholesterol with drugs. Wouldn't it be better to adopt a more healthy diet? Although statins might be needed for people with Familial hypercholesterolemia, an inherited disorder.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-07/esoc-af063014.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 4-Jul-2014
Contact: ESC Press Office
European Society of Cardiology
Association found between high cholesterol and breast cancer

Findings raise the possibility of preventing breast cancer with statins

Barcelona, 4 July 2014: An association between high blood cholesterol and breast cancer has been found in a study of more than 1 million patients over a 14 year time period in the UK. The research will be presented today at Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology (FCVB) 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. The meeting is organised by the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Science of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in collaboration with 13 European cardiovascular science societies.

http://spo.escardio.org/SessionDetails.aspx?eevtid=65&sessId=13301&subSessId=3494

Dr Rahul Potluri, founder of the ACALM Study Unit and lead author, said: "Our preliminary study suggests that women with high cholesterol in their blood may be at greater risk of getting breast cancer. It raises the possibility of preventing breast cancer with statins, which lower cholesterol, but as this is a primitive study, significant time and research is needed before this idea can be tested."

Over the past few years, population studies have suggested an association between obesity and breast cancer. Last year a study in mice concluded that lowering circulating cholesterol or interfering with its metabolism may be used to prevent or treat breast cancer.

•••••

Dr Potluri said: "We found that women with high cholesterol had a significantly greater chance of developing breast cancer. This was an observational study so we can't conclude that high cholesterol causes breast cancer but the strength of this association warrants further investigation."

He added: "A prospective study that monitors the risk of breast cancer in women with and without high cholesterol is needed to confirm what we observed. If the connection between high cholesterol and breast cancer is validated, the next step would be to see if lowering cholesterol with statins can reduce the risk of developing cancer."

Dr Potluri continued: "Statins are cheap, widely available and relatively safe. We are potentially heading towards a clinical trial in 10-15 years to test the effect of statins on the incidence of breast cancer. If such a trial is successful, statins may have a role in the prevention of breast cancer especially in high risk groups, such as women with high cholesterol."

•••••