We examined associations between food intakes and incident breast cancer, defined by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status in the Malmö Diet and Cancer cohort (∼17,000 women aged 45-73 yr). The hazard ratios (HRs) of ER+PR+ (n = 270), ER+PR- (n = 87), and ER-PR- (n = 61) tumors and all cancer (n = 544) were estimated after 10 yr of follow-up. In multivariate analysis of ER+PR+ tumors, a protective linear risk trend, indicating change between adjoining food categories, was seen with yogurt (HR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.80-0.99), but increased risks with eggs (HR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.01-1.20) and dried soups/sauces (HR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.00-1.22). In ER-PR- tumors, vegetable-oil-based margarine (HR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.09-1.59) and dried soups/sauces (HR = 1.31 95% CI = 1.05-1.64) showed increased risks. Heterogeneity was observed between ER+PR+ and ER-PR- tumors for vegetable-oil-based margarine (P < 0.01). Regular milk showed decreased, and dried soups/sauces increased, risk with all breast cancer. The study suggests that fat-containing food may contribute both to hormonal and nonhormonal mechanisms in breast tumor development and supports observations of positive associations between characteristics of Westernized diets and postmenopausal breast cancer.