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Dietary patterns and breast cancer risk among Chinese women

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Abstract

Objective

The present study aimed to examine the relationship between dietary patterns and breast cancer risk among Chinese women.

Methods

Four hundred and thirty-eight cases with histologically confirmed primary breast cancer and 438 controls were consecutively recruited. Cases were frequency matched to controls on 5-year age group and rural–urban residence. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to assess dietary intake by face-to-face interviews. Dietary patterns were identified by factor analysis. Multivariate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated using unconditional logistic regression adjusted for various potential confounders.

Results

Two diet patterns were identified: vegetable–fruit–soy–milk–poultry–fish pattern and refined grain–meat–pickle pattern. After adjustment for confounders, a 74% decreased risk was observed among women in the highest quartile of the vegetable–fruit–soy–milk–poultry–fish dietary pattern relative to the lowest quartile (OR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.17–0.42). The refined grain–meat–pickle pattern was positively associated with breast cancer risk (OR = 2.58, 95% CI = 1.53, 4.34). Women with a high intake of the vegetable–fruit–soy–milk–poultry–fish pattern and a low intake of the refined grain–meat–pickle pattern showed a decreased risk of breast cancer (adjusted OR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.17–0.41).

Conclusions

These results indicated that a diet characterized by a high consumption of vegetable/fruit/soy/milk/poultry/fish and a low consumption of refined grain/red meat/pickle is associated with a lower risk of breast cancer in Chinese women.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Centre of Research and Promotion of Women’s Health of the School of Public Health and Primary Care of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. We very gratefully acknowledge the assistance of our student helpers and participation of the study subjects, without them the study would not be possible.

Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Research and Promotion of Women’s Health, 4th Floor, School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin NT, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China

    Cai-Xia Zhang & Suzanne C. Ho

  2. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Cai-Xia Zhang & Yu-Ming Chen

  3. Department of Thoracic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Jian-Hua Fu

  4. Nursing Department, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Shou-Zhen Cheng & Fang-Yu Lin

Authors
  1. Cai-Xia Zhang
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  2. Suzanne C. Ho
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  3. Jian-Hua Fu
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  4. Shou-Zhen Cheng
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  5. Yu-Ming Chen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Suzanne C. Ho.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 5.

Table 5 Food groupings used in the factor analysis
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Zhang, CX., Ho, S.C., Fu, JH. et al. Dietary patterns and breast cancer risk among Chinese women. Cancer Causes Control 22, 115–124 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9681-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9681-8

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