Latinas who eat processed meat more likely to get Breast Cancer

The study found that Latinas who ate more than 20 milligrams of processed meats such as bacon, chorizo, sausage, ham, hot dogs and deli meats are 42 percent more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than white women who ate that much processed meat and Latinas who ate less. 
Mariana Stern, a USC associate professor and director of graduate programs in molecular epidemiology at the Keck School of Medicine, authored the paper.
“All these processed meats should be consumed like a treat, not the staple of your diet. The more we can understand, the better we can do to reduce our cancer risk.”
The cause of the higher numbers for Hispanic women will be the focus of future studies, Stern said, but the researchers suspect that Latinas ate more processed meat during adolescence, which could increase their risk later on in life.
She pointed out that most women do not get breast cancer due to genetics, only 5 to 10 percent of women carry the breast cancer gene.
“Diet and lifestyle play an important role. Things such as smoking, UV radiation, alcohol and
processed meats can activate cells to become malignant,” Stern said.