A stunning discovery reveals that consuming choline, a nutrient found in eggs and other foods, could significantly affect breast cancer outcomes for a mother's offspring.
The is the first to link choline consumption during pregnancy to breast cancer. It also is the first to identify choline-related genetic changes that affect breast cancer survival rates.
The researchers made the discovery by studying female rats whose mothers were fed varying amounts of choline during pregnancy. Different groups of pregnant rats received diets containing standard amounts of choline, no choline at all, or extra choline. Then the researchers treated the female offspring with a chemical that causes breast cancer. Although animals in all groups developed the cancer, the daughters of mothers that had received extra choline during pregnancy had slow growing tumors, while daughters of mothers that had no choline during pregnancy had fast growing tumors.
The researchers also found multiple genetic and molecular changes in the rats' tumors that correlated with survival outcomes.