The following report by medical editor Marilyn Brooks first aired April 26, 2006, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

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How's your diet?

If you're still into the fried and the fattening, you're doing yourself more harm than good -- in more ways than one.

Researchers say what you eat may raise or lower your risk of breast cancer.

More than 200,000 women in this country will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Certain risk factors are linked to the disease, and a recent report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows food is one of them.

A healthy diet can help you get more out of life -- but how much more? Researchers tracked nearly 50,000 women to show proof that a low-fat, high-fiber diet can help reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Dr. Aman Buzdar, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center: "This is the first time where a prospective, large study has looked at it. The data is very strongly suggestive that we may be able to modify the risk of breast cancer by changing our dietary pattern."

The clinical trial involved post-menopausal women.

Forty percent were told to reduce the amount of calories from fat to 20 percent and increase their servings of fruits and vegetables to five or more a day. The other 60 percent of women made no changes.

Overall, women who changed their diet realized a reduced risk of 9 percent.

Sally Scroggs, dietician, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center: "The encouraging part is that women who did make a big change in decreasing the amount of fat in their diet did see a higher percentage of reduced risk."

The study, designed to reduce the total amount of fat in diets, is now 10 years old. Researchers now know that some fats -- like the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish -- are beneficial.

More research is needed to isolate which foods are best to add or remove from the diet; who benefits most from making changes; and when might be the best time to begin a prevention diet.

Scroggs: "Women have some control over their lives. By doing something every day -- what they eat -- they can modify their risk of developing a potentially lethal disease, breast cancer."

If you're not certain about which foods are best and how much fat to cut, talk to your doctor or a registered dietician.

You can also call the American Cancer Society or National Cancer Institute at (800) 4-CANCER.