Do processed snacks affect breast development?
Consumption of ultraprocessed foods and breast density in adolescence
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists studied if eating lots of processed foods as a teen affects breast tissue development later. They looked at girls in Chile who were followed from childhood to teen years.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
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Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
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Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists studied if eating lots of processed foods as a teen affects breast tissue development later. They looked at girls in Chile who were followed from childhood to teen years.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 558 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Publication
Authors
Devoto A, Garmendia ML, Jacard M, Pereira A
Related Content
Claims (10)
When teenage girls eat more processed foods, their breast tissue might look denser on scans only during the first half of their menstrual cycle, but this doesn't happen all the time or during other parts of the cycle.
When looking at all teenage girls together without considering where they were in their menstrual cycle, eating more processed foods didn't consistently change how dense their breast tissue looked on scans.
Whether eating processed foods affects breast density seems to depend on what part of the menstrual cycle a girl is in - it only shows an effect during the first half of the cycle, not the second half.
The effect of processed foods on breast density during the first half of the menstrual cycle only happened at medium levels of consumption, not at the highest levels.
When looking at how much of the total calories came from processed foods (instead of how many grams), there was no consistent link to breast density at any point in the menstrual cycle.