Breast Cancer Risk Up With Inflammatory Potential of Diet

WEDNESDAY, June 9, 2021 (HealthDay News) — The inflammatory potential of diet is associated with breast cancer risk overall, according to a study presented during Nutrition 2021, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, held virtually from June 7 to 10.

Carlota Castro-Espin, from the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues examined the correlation between the inflammatory potential of diet and the risk for breast cancer among 318,686 women from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. The potential effect of an inflammatory score of the diet (ISD) was examined on the risk for overall breast cancer and by tumor subtypes.

The researchers identified 13,246 incident cancer cases during a follow-up of 14 years. There was a positive association seen for ISD with breast cancer risk. Each increase of one standard deviation of the score correlated with a 4 percent increase in the risk for breast cancer after adjustment for relevant confounders (hazard ratio, 1.04). Compared with women in the lowest quintile of the ISD score, those in the highest quintile (most proinflammatory diet) had a significantly increased risk (hazard ratio, 1.12). The correlation was more pronounced for premenopausal women (hazard ratio, 1.08). The correlation was homogenous for tumor subtypes based on hormone receptor status.

“Our results add more evidence of the role that dietary patterns play in the prevention of breast cancer,” Castro-Espin said in a statement. “With further confirmation, these findings could help inform dietary recommendations aimed at lowering cancer risk.”

Abstract No. OR08-06-21

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