Study: Do women who eat a high fiber diet have a lower risk of breast cancer?

NPR:  A Diet High In Fiber May Help Protect Against Breast Cancer
Rating: 4.5 Stars

• This media article was well-written. 
• This media article gave the average amount of fiber the women consumed. This is incorrect, the research article did not report the average amount of fiber, it reported the median amount of fiber the women consumed.

CBS News: Teen Eating Habits May Help Cut Breast Cancer Risk
Rating: 4.5 Stars

• This media article contains many great sources that have good commentary that puts the results of this research study into perspective. 
• This media article said that breast cancer risk was 12-19% lower among women who ate more dietary fiber in their youth. Because the beginning of this article emphasizes the results relating to high school girls, it should be clarified that the 12-19% refers to the risk reduction for young adults, not high school girls. 

Huffington Post:  High-Fiber Diet May Help Lower Breast Cancer Risk
Rating: 4 Stars

• This media article was well-written, overall.
• This media article did not include any comments from an outside source.
• This media article did not mention any limitations of the research. However, it is good that they made the point regarding the results of this study being an association and not a cause and effect relationship, meaning that researchers do not really understand if fiber is directly causing the reduced breast cancer risk.

Glamour:  Reason 283 to Have a Salad for Lunch Today: Fiber Is Shown to Lower Your Breast Cancer Risk
Rating: 4 Stars

• This media article did not include any comments from sources who were not involved in the study.
• This media article did not mention any limitations of the study.

Health Day:  Girls Who Eat More Fiber May Face Lower Breast Cancer Risk Later: Study Rating: 4 Stars

• This media article was well-written. 
• This media article did not directly interview any sources.
• It was good that this media article talked about how fiber should be included in diets because of its other health benefits even though this study does not prove that fiber helps prevent breast cancer
• This media article did not mention other study limitations.

Teen Vogue:  This Is What You Need to Eat as a Teen to Help Prevent Breast Cancer Rating: 4 Stars

• While the results suggest that eating more fiber when you are young reduces breast cancer risk, it is not definitive; more work needs to be done. The headline and lede of this media article are slightly exaggerated as it presents it as: eat fiber to reduce breast cancer risk. 
• The 12-19% breast cancer risk reduction the media article reports should be attributed to young adults (aged 27-44) not high school girls.

Relevance: Medium-High

• This research is most relevant to young women. 
• It is possible to modify dietary fiber levels. There are other benefits to eating a high-fiber diet. 
• More research will be needed to confirm that a high fiber diet lowers breast cancer risk. 

Strength of Science: Medium

• This research study is a large study that looked at how much fiber young women ate and whether that was associated with breast cancer development.
• Researchers also looked at whether fiber eaten during adolescence was associated with breast cancer development. To answer that question, the researchers had to ask the women to remember what they ate back in high school, which would be impossible for women to answer with 100% accuracy.
• While the researchers tried to control for other factors to the best of their ability, they cannot definitively say that there was no other factor that may be responsible for the lowered risk of breast cancer they see. 
• This is relevant to young women --the results suggest that eating high amounts of fiber when a woman is young may reduce breast cancer risk. However, they did not look at any genetics, so it is unknown if BRCA or another genetic mutation may alter this effect.