Modification of American Institute of Nutrition Rat Diet in Mammary Cancer Research

This research was performed to test the effect of date palm fruit (Phoenix datylifera L.) of (Al-Barhi) type at the two maturity stages “Rutab” and “Tamr” on the 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary cancer using the rat model. The experimental diets included soybean group as a control group since soybean is known to be protective against mammary cancer.The diets, except for the soybean diet, were a modification of the American Institute of Nutrition-1993 (AIN-93) diet that is free of any soybean products. Soybean oil was replaced by a mixture of canola and sunflower oils in amounts that give ratios of w-6:w-3 fatty acids and PUFA:SFA similar to those of the AIN-93 diet which are based on soybean oil namely 7.5:1.0 and 4.0:1.0 respectively.It is concluded that in DMBA-induced mammary cancer experiments, a mixture of canola and sunflower oils in a ratio of 0.6:1.0 (v/v) canola oil:sunflower oil would replace soybean oil.