Breast cancer in developing population: A nutrition caveat.

From January 1992-January 1998, 1404 patients attended the "Breast Clinic" of R.N.T. Medical College M.B. Hospital, Udaipur. Out of these, 11% and 81% patients had breast cancer (B.C.) and benign breast cancer (B.B.D.) respectively. The oxidative load in B.C. was 2.32 times higher than controls, but comparable to B.B.D. β-Carotene deficiency was uncommon in patients, whereas vitamin A deficiency was almost equally common in both B.C. and controls. Most of the patients had almost depleted levels of α-tocopherol and ascorbic acid but their TBAR levels were in normal range. The data in the present study when compared with B.B.D. and other local normal subjects point out: a) oxidative burden in B.C. is a consequence and not the cause of the disease, (b) oxidative stress could be one of the etiological factors in tumor expression, which need not to be malignant and c) α-tocopherol and ascorbic acid are not importantly responsible for higher oxidative burden in B.C.