The XX Factor: What women really think.

Would You Take a Pill That Prevents Cancer? Unlikely.

Gina Kolata points out, once again, that diet and exercise have not been shown to affect breast cancer rates. Massive, well-run observational studies and randomized controlled trials turn up nothing. This finding appears to be unacceptable; popular culture rejects it utterly. Women’s magazines continue to preach the holy gospel of five fruits and vegetables a day. Doctors continue to tell patients at high risk of breast cancer that diet matters. The director of one of the (fruitless?) studies tells Kolata that doctors need to “rethink the studies.” Diet and exercise “are likely quite important, but we just aren’t getting the answers” ... (Read the rest of this article in DoubleX.)