Association of Frequency of Organic Food Consumption With Cancer Risk

Abstract

IMPORTANCE Although organic foods are less likely to contain pesticide residues than conventional foods, few studies have examined the association of organic food consumption with cancer risk. OBJECTIVE To prospectively investigate the association between organic food consumption and the risk of cancer in a large cohort of French adults. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In this population-based prospective cohort study among French adult volunteers, data were included from participants with available information on organic food consumption frequency and dietary intake. For 16 products, participants reported their consumption frequency of labeled organic foods (never, occasionally, or most of the time). An organic food score was then computed (range, 0-32 points). The follow-up dates were May 10, 2009, to November 30, 2016. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES This study estimated the risk of cancer in association with the organic food score (modeled as quartiles) using Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusted for potential cancer risk factors. RESULTS Among 68 946 participants (78.0% female; mean [SD] age at baseline, 44.2 [14.5] years), 1340 first incident cancer cases were identified during follow-up, with the most prevalent being 459 breast cancers, 180 prostate cancers, 135 skin cancers, 99 colorectal cancers, 47 non-Hodgkin lymphomas, and 15 other lymphomas. High organic food scores were inversely associated with the overall risk of cancer (hazard ratio for quartile 4 vs quartile 1, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.63-0.88; P for trend = .001; absolute risk reduction, 0.6%; hazard ratio for a 5-point increase, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.88-0.96). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE A higher frequency of organic food consumption was associated with a reduced risk of cancer. If these findings are confirmed, further research is necessary to determine the underlying factors involved in this association.

A Systematic Review of Organic Versus Conventional Food Consumption: Is There a Measurable Benefit on Human Health?

“…These included the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study [55,56]; KOALA Birth Cohort [58][59][60]; ALLADIN study [61]; PELAIGE Mother-Child Cohort [62] and the EARTH study [52]. Two adult-only cohorts involved development of cancer incidence in the Million Women Study [65], and self-reported health factors in the Nutri-Net Santé Cohort Study [20,53,63,64]. A retrospective case-control study in a mother-child cohort was also included [57].…”

“…The Nutri-Net Santé group also investigated associations with cancer incidence in a cohort of 68,946 participants [53]. The group, followed for a mean of 4.6 years, report that after adjustment for confounders, high organic food scores were linearly and negatively associated with the overall risk of cancer (HR for Q4 vs Q1, 0.75; 95%CI, 0.63-0.88; p for trend = 0.001; absolute risk reduction, 0.6%; HR for a 5-point increase, 0.92; 95%CI 0.88-0.96).…”

Association of Occupational Pesticide Exposure With Immunochemotherapy Response and Survival Among Patients With Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

“…Occupational exposure has been reported to be associated with a higher rate of NHL in several meta-analyses 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 and prospective studies. 6 , 7 More recently, a prospective study 8 showed an association of a higher frequency of organic food intake with decreasing risk of NHL. Three agents have been associated with NHL and classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer: glyphosate, malathion, and diazinon.…”

Nutritional value of conventional, wild and organically produced fruits and vegetables available in Baja California Sur markets

“…A healthy and balanced diet based on fruits and vegetables that contain high amounts of compounds with antioxidant properties can help reduce cell death in sick patients (Terry et al, 2001) and most importantly, consumption of these fruits and vegetables can prevent development of chronic-degenerative diseases (Hu, 2003;McCullough et al, 2003). A study carried out by Baudry et al (2018) showed an important decrease in cancer risk of French participants that had higher consumption of organic food. This study conducted from 2009 to 2016 considered nearly 70 000 people.…”