Previous data on animals and humans suggest that vitamin E may be a protective factor against cancer. A low dietary vitamin E intake has been suggested to increase the risk of breast cancer. We examined the dietary intake and the concentration of vitamin E in breast adipose tissue of women in Kuopio, Finland, diagnosed between 1990 and 1992 with benign breast disease (n = 34) and with breast cancer (n = 32). In postmenopausal women, lower dietary intake (P = 0.006) and a smaller concentration of vitamin E in breast adipose tissue (P = 0.024) were observed in breast cancer patients than in subjects with benign breast disease. Partial correlation showed that the vitamin E concentration in the breast adipose tissue correlated positively with the dietary intake of vitamin E (r = 0.25, P = 0.023), indicating that the vitamin E concentration in breast adipose tissue reflects the dietary intake of vitamin E.