Adolescent dietary patterns and premenopausal breast cancer incidence

Mammary tissue experiences the highest rate of proliferation during adolescence representing a period of heightened susceptibility. Few prospective studies have examined adolescent diet and breast cancer, and none have examined dietary patterns. Thus, we examined the association between adolescent dietary patterns and a diet quality index, the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), and breast cancer in the Nurses’ Health Study II among those who completed a 124-item food frequency questionnaire about their high-school diet (HS-FFQ). Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Among 45204 women who completed the HS-FFQ, 863 cases of premenopausal breast cancer and 614 cases of postmenopausal cancer were diagnosed. A marginal inverse association was observed between the ‘prudent’ dietary pattern, characterized by high intake of vegetables, fruits, legumes, fish and poultry, and premenopausal breast cancer. Women in fifth quintile had a multivariable adjusted HR (95% CI) of 0.84 (0.67–1.04) for premenopausal breast cancer (P trend = 0.07) compared with the first quintile. Scoring higher on the AHEI was borderline significantly associated with premenopausal breast cancer with a HR of 0.81 (0.64–1.01) for the fifth quintile (P trend = 0.08), and this association appeared to be stronger for estrogen receptor-negative/progesterone receptor-negative tumors. No association...
Source: Carcinogenesis - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Original Manuscript Source Type: research