STARCHY foods like pasta and white bread increase the risk of breast cancer among Italian women, according to new, research. Doctors at the Regional Oncology Centre in Aviano, Italy, have also discovered that contrary to previous research, high fat consumption does not increase the risk of breast cancer and may even decrease. They, compared the diets of 2,569 women with breast cancer and 2,588 women with unrelated illnesses. They found that unsaturated fats - like olive oil - actually lowered the risk of breast cancer while saturated fats - like butter - made no difference. There was, however, a significant increase in risk related to the consumption of starchy foods like pasta, rice, crackers and biscuits. Writing in The Lancet, the researchers suggested that breast cancer in Italy could be decreased by up to 16 per cent if women reduced their intake of starchy foods and ate more unsaturated fatty acids.