A study of more than 350,000 women found that women with diets incorporating more foods that increase inflammation in the body had a 12-fold greater risk of breast cancer compared to women who consumed more anti-inflammatory diets.
The new findings were presented at NUTRITION 2021 LIVE ONLINE.
The researchers found that moving from a more anti-inflammatory diet toward one that increases inflammation increased breast cancer risk in an almost linear manner.
Foods that increase inflammation include red and processed meats, high-fat foods such as butter and margarine, fried foods, sugar and sugary foods. Fruits, vegetables, beans and lentils, whole grains, tea and coffee all have potentially anti-inflammatory properties.
Related: Six ways to build an anti-inflammatory diet
Most studies that have examining diet and breast cancer risk have focused on single nutrients or foods rather than the whole diet. The study's lead researcher noted that “people consume food not nutrients, thus examining overall dietary patterns, rather than single components of diets can lead to more accurate conclusions when analysing associations with a health outcome such as breast cancer."
About the study
The new results are based on data from the European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study (EPIC), a prospective study that recruited more than 500,000 participants across 10 European countries starting in the mid-1990s. The study included more than 13,000 breast cancer diagnoses during approximately 15 years of follow-up.
The typical diet for study participants was measured for a year using food frequency or diet history questionnaires. The researchers used this information to calculate an inflammatory score for each study participant based on their intake of 27 foods.
The researchers decided to look at dietary patterns linked with inflammation because long-term, low grade inflammation has been linked with the development of breast cancer. The large number of women in the study allowed the researchers to take a more nuanced look at the relationship between dietary patterns and breast cancer risk.
Their analysis showed that the increase in breast cancer risk due to pro-inflammatory diets appears to be more pronounced among premenopausal women. They also found that the association did not vary by breast cancer hormone receptor subtypes.
As a next step, the researchers plan to evaluate the association of the inflammatory potential of diet and other dietary patterns with breast cancer survival using participants in the EPIC study.
Source: Nutrition 2021 Live Online, June 7, 2021
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