Lung cancer in men and breast cancer in women are the most commonly diagnosed cancers in Poland and worldwide. Results of studies involving dietary patterns (DPs) and breast or lung cancer risk in European countries outside the Mediterranean Sea region are limited and inconclusive. This study aimed to develop a ‘Polish-adapted Mediterranean Diet’ (‘Polish-aMED’) score, and then study the associations between the ‘Polish-aMED’ score and a posteriori-derived dietary patterns with breast or lung cancer risk in adult Poles. This pooled analysis of two case-control studies involved 560 subjects (280 men, 280 women) aged 40–75 years from Northeastern Poland. Diagnoses of breast cancer in 140 women and lung cancer in 140 men were found. The food frequency consumption of 21 selected food groups was collected using a 62-item Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ)-6. The ‘Polish-adapted Mediterranean Diet’ score which included eight items—vegetables, fruit, whole grain, fish, legumes, nuts and seeds—as well as the ratio of vegetable oils to animal fat and red and processed meat was developed (range: 0–8 points). Three DPs were identified in a Principal Component Analysis: ‘Prudent’, ‘Non-healthy’, ‘Dressings and sweetened-low-fat dairy’. In a multiple logistic regression analysis, two models were created: crude, and adjusted for age, sex, type of cancer, Body Mass Index (BMI), socioeconomic status (SES) index, overall physical activity, smoking status and alcohol abuse. The risk of breast or lung cancer was lower in the average (3–5 points) and high (6–8 points) levels of the ‘Polish-aMED’ score compared to the low (0–2 points) level by 51% (odds ratio (OR): 0.49; 95% confidence interval (Cl): 0.30–0.80; p < 0.01; adjusted) and 63% (OR: 0.37; 95% Cl: 0.21–0.64; p < 0.001; adjusted), respectively. In the middle and upper tertiles compared to the bottom tertile of the ‘Prudent’ DP, the risk of cancer was lower by 38–43% (crude) but was not significant after adjustment for confounders. In the upper compared to the bottom tertile of the ‘Non-healthy’ DP, the risk of cancer was higher by 65% (OR: 1.65; 95% Cl: 1.05–2.59; p < 0.05; adjusted). In conclusion, the Polish adaptation of the Mediterranean diet could be considered for adults living in non-Mediterranean countries for the prevention of the breast or lung cancers. Future studies should explore the role of a traditional Mediterranean diet fitted to local dietary patterns of non-Mediterranean Europeans in cancer prevention.
It is likely that enhanced citrate synthase activity contributes to the conversion of glucose to lipids in pancreatic cancer providing substrate for membrane lipids synthesis.
Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in women worldwide. Studies regarding complex breast cancer aetiology are limited and the results are inconclusive. We investigated the associations between dietary patterns (DPs), metabolic-hormone profiles (M-HPs), and breast cancer risk. This case-control study involved 420 women aged 40–79 years from north-eastern Poland, including 190 newly-diagnosed breast cancer cases. The serum concentration of lipid components, glucose, and hormones (oestradiol, progesterone, testosterone, prolactin, cortisol, insulin) was marked in 129 post-menopausal women (82 controls, 47 cases). The food frequency consumption was collected using a validated 62-item food frequency questionnaire. A posteriori DPs or M-HPs were derived with a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Three DPs: ‘Non-Healthy’, ‘Prudent’, and ‘Margarine and Sweetened Dairy’ and two M-HPs: ‘Metabolic-Syndrome’ and ‘High-Hormone’ were identified. The ‘Polish-adapted Mediterranean Diet’ (‘Polish-aMED’) score was calculated. The risk of breast cancer risk was three-times higher (odds ratio (OR): 2.90; 95% confidence interval (95% Cl): 1.62–5.21; p < 0.001) in the upper tertile of the ‘Non-Healthy’ pattern (reference: bottom tertile) and five-times higher (OR: 5.34; 95% Cl: 1.84–15.48; p < 0.01) in the upper tertile of the ‘High-Hormone’ profile (reference: bottom tertile). There was a positive association of ‘Metabolic-Syndrome’ profile and an inverse association of ‘Polish-aMED’ score with the risk of breast cancer, which disappeared after adjustment for confounders. No significant association between ‘Prudent’ or ‘Margarine and Sweetened Dairy’ DPs and cancer risk was revealed. Concluding, a pro-healthy diet is insufficient to reduce the risk of breast cancer in peri- and postmenopausal women. The findings highlight the harmful effect of the ‘High-Hormone’ profile and the ‘Non-Healthy’ dietary pattern on breast cancer risk. In breast cancer prevention, special attention should be paid to decreasing the adherence to the ‘Non-Healthy’ pattern by reducing the consumption of highly processed food and foods with a high content of sugar and animal fat. There is also a need to monitor the concentration of multiple sex hormones in the context of breast cancer risk.
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