Proinflammatory Dietary Pattern and Risk of Total and Subtypes of Breast Cancer Among U.S. Women.
Academic Article
Overview
abstract
BACKGROUND: Dietary patterns promoting chronic inflammation, including the empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP), have been associated with certain cancers. Investigating whether this dietary pattern is associated with breast cancer-where the role of inflammation is less well-defined-could provide valuable insights and potentially improve strategies for preventing this cancer. METHODS: We prospectively followed 76,386 women from Nurses' Health Study (NHS, 1984-2018) and 92,886 women from Nurses' Health Study II (NHSII, 1991-2019). Diet was assessed by food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) every 4 years, starting at baseline. The inflammatory potential of diet was evaluated using the validated EDIP based on plasma CRP, IL-6, and TNFα-R2. Higher scores indicate higher dietary inflammatory potential. Hazard ratios and 95%CIs of overall and subtypes of breast cancer were estimated using multivariable-adjusted Cox regression models. RESULTS: During 4,490,842 person-years of follow-up, we documented 11,026 breast cancer cases. Women in the highest, compared with the lowest, EDIP quintile were at higher breast cancer risk (HRQ5vs.Q1=1.12; 95% CI, 1.05, 1.19; P-trend<0.001). The association was stronger for ER-negative tumors (HRQ5vs.Q1=1.29; 95% CI, 1.09, 1.53; P-trend=0.003). Also, we observed that the association of EDIP with breast cancer risk differed by molecular subtype, with the strongest association observed with basal-like tumors (HRQ5vs.Q1=1.80; 95% CI, 1.20, 2.71; P-trend=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Higher EDIP scores were associated with a modestly increased risk of breast cancer, which was more pronounced for ER-negative and basal-like breast tumors. These results support the hypothesis that diet-related inflammation plays a role in breast cancer etiology, particularly tumors lacking hormone receptors.
