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Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and nasopharyngeal cancer risk in Italy

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Abstract

Purpose

Few studies investigated the role of diet on nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) risk in non-endemic areas. The aim of this study was to assess the association between adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet and NPC risk in a southern European low-risk population.

Methods

We conducted a hospital-based case-control study in Italy, including 198 histologically confirmed NPC cases and 594 matched controls. Dietary habits were collected by means of a validated food-frequency questionnaire, including 83 foods, food groups, or beverages. Adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet was assessed through a Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), based on nine dietary components characterizing this dietary profile, i.e., high intake of vegetables, fruits and nuts, cereals, legumes, and fish; low intake of dairy products and meat; high monounsaturated to saturated fatty acid ratio; and moderate alcohol intake. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) of NPC, and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs), for increasing MDS (i.e., increasing adherence) using multiple logistic regression models, adjusted for major confounding factors.

Results

As compared to MDS ≤ 4, the ORs of NPC were 0.83 (95% CI: 0.54–1.25) for MDS of 5 and 0.66 (95% CI: 0.44–0.99) for MDS ≥ 6, with a significant trend of decreasing risk (p 0.043). The corresponding population attributable fraction was 22%, indicating that 22% of NPC cases in this population would be avoided by shifting all subjects to a score ≥6.

Conclusions

Our study supports a favorable role of the Mediterranean diet on NPC risk.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Italian Foundation for Research on Cancer (FIRC) and by the Italian Ministry of Health, General Directorate of European and International Relations. FB was supported by a Fondazione Umberto Veronesi Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via A. Vanzetti 5, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Federica Turati, Francesca Bravi, Adriano Decarli, Monica Ferraroni & Carlo La Vecchia

  2. Department of Epidemiology, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, via G. La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy

    Francesca Bravi, Cristina Bosetti & Eva Negri

  3. Unit of Cancer Epidemiology, CRO Aviano National Cancer Institute, via F. Gallini 2, 33081, Aviano, Italy

    Jerry Polesel, Martina Taborelli & Diego Serraino

  4. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, School of Medicine and Surgery, Università di Milano-Bicocca, via Cadore 48, 20900, Monza, Italy

    Werner Garavello

  5. Laboratory of Translational Oncology & Functional Genomics, Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Università di Catania, Via Androne 83, 95124, Catania, Italy

    Massimo Libra

  6. Unit of Epidemiology, Istituto Tumori “Fondazione Pascale IRCCS”, Via M. Semmola 1, 80131, Naples, Italy

    Maurizio Montella

  7. Unit of Medical Statistics, Biometry and Bioinformatics, Fondazione IRCSS Istituto Nazionale Tumori di Milano, via G. Venezian 1, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Adriano Decarli

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  1. Federica Turati
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  2. Francesca Bravi
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  3. Jerry Polesel
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  4. Cristina Bosetti
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  5. Eva Negri
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  6. Werner Garavello
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  7. Martina Taborelli
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  8. Diego Serraino
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  9. Massimo Libra
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  10. Maurizio Montella
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  11. Adriano Decarli
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  12. Monica Ferraroni
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  13. Carlo La Vecchia
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Correspondence to Federica Turati.

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Turati, F., Bravi, F., Polesel, J. et al. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and nasopharyngeal cancer risk in Italy. Cancer Causes Control 28, 89–95 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-017-0850-x

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