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Factors outside of a woman's genetic predisposition and her body's production of estrogen, such as diet and other life style factors, can increase the risk of breast cancer, according to a new study conducted by the University of California, Davis.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the findings give new insight into the processes which lead to abnormal breast development. The results suggest that shifts in diet and the body's natural metabolism can negatively effect the bodies natural state of equilibrium, as seen with diabetes and obesity patients, and can stimulate breast growth separate and apart from a women's levels of estrogen'.

"It's long been assumed that circulating estrogen from the ovaries, which underlie normal female reproductive development, were crucial for the onset of breast growth and development[...] however other factors that are largely controllable can influence how a woman's breast grows," said Russ Hovey, a UC Davis associate professor of animal science and senior author on the study.

In estrogen deprived mice, researchers found that a supplement known as 10, 12 CLA, a fatty acid, stimulated the growth and development of mammary growths. The results also showed that the diet-induced breast growth also lead to the development of mammary tumors in some of the mice.

Researchers suggest that diet, natural metabolic activity as well as genetics can determine whether or not the mice studied (or a person) can and will develop breast cancer. 

Hovey notes that the findings of his study will be important when addressing the breast development of prepubescent girls and post-menopausal women, each of which have less estrogen levels than their menstruating counterparts.

"The findings of this study are particularly important when we superimpose them on data showing that girls are experiencing breast development at earlier ages, coincident with a growing epidemic of childhood obesity," Hovey said.