BEIJING, July 10 (Xinhuanet) -- The breast cancer rate in China is increasing because Chinese women are adopting a more Western-style diet that includes more meat, according to a study that revisits data collected in Shanghai in the 1990s.

    The study, published in the July issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Preventions offers more results from the landmark Shanghai Breast Cancer Study, originally conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University.

    The study revealed that women in Shanghai who ate what the researchers called a "Western meat-sweet diet" heavy on meat, starches and sweets, more than doubled their risk of developing a main form of breast cancer, called estrogen-receptor-positive cancer, compared to their neighbors who ate a more traditional vegetable-soy-based diet, according to a team led by doctors at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

    The pattern was particularly evident in overweight postmenopausal women, who probably gained weight because of the meat-sweet diet, according to Dr. Marilyn Tseng of Fox Chase, who led the recent analysis of several thousand women ages 25 to 64.

    Numerous studies conducted of immigrant groups in the United States during the past 20 years have been uniform in revealing the Western diet breeds certain kinds of cancers, especially colon cancer and hormone-related cancers such as breast, prostate and ovarian. Breast cancer rates are four to seven times higher in the United States than in Asia, according to the National Cancer Institute.

    Such studies have shown first-generation immigrants have nearly identical cancer risks compared to those in their native country. But within a few generations of living in the United States, the patterns become identical to those of fellow Americans.

    (Agencies)