The mediterranean dietary pattern and breast cancer risk in Greek-Cypriot women: a case-control study

Abstract

BackgroundDiet has long been suspected to impact on breast cancer risk. In this study we evaluated whether the degree of adherence to a Mediterranean diet pattern modifies breast cancer risk amongst Greek-Cypriot women.MethodsSubjects included 935 cases and 817 controls, all participating in the MASTOS case-control study in Cyprus. The study was approved by the Cyprus National Bioethics Committee. Information on dietary intakes was collected using an interviewer administered 32-item Food Frequency Questionnaire. Information on demographic, anthropometric, lifestyle, and other confounding factors was also collected. Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet pattern was assessed using two a-priory defined diet scores. In addition, dietary patterns specific to our population were derived using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Logistic regression models were used to assess the association between the dietary patters and breast cancer risk.ResultsThere was no association with breast cancer risk for either score, however, higher consumptions of vegetables, fish and olive oil, were independently associated with decreased risk. In addition, the PCA derived component which included vegetables, fruit, fish and legumes was shown to significantly reduce risk of breast cancer (ORs across quartiles of increasing levels of consumption: 0.89 95%CI: 0.65-1.22, 0.64 95%CI: 0.47-0.88, 0.67 95%CI: 0.49-0.92, P trend < 0.0001), even after adjustment for relevant confounders.ConclusionsOur results suggest that adherence to a diet pattern rich in vegetables, fish, legumes and olive oil may favorably influence the risk of breast cancer. This study is the first investigation of dietary effects on breast cancer risk in Cyprus, a country whose population has traditionally adhered to the Mediterranean diet.

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in one-carbon metabolism genes, Mediterranean diet and breast cancer risk: a case–control study in the Greek-Cypriot female population

“…This FFQ aimed to record the routine consumption of foods of the participants over the preceding year (for cases, this was the past 12 months prior to diagnosis). More details about the design and structure of the FFQ can be found in Demetriou et al (2012). Principal component analysis (PCA) was previously used to investigate the dietary consumption of food items (in g/month) included in the FFQ and also to derive the dietary pattern that best applies to the Greek-Cypriot female population.…”

“…Consequently, Pattern 4 was selected as being the most appropriate to be used in the subsequent association analysis with BC and in the analysis with the SNPs in this study. Quartile values for adherence to this dietary pattern were determined according to the score values of the controls (Demetriou et al 2012). Subjects in quartile one had the lowest consumption of vegetables, fruit, legumes and fish and thus lowest adherence to the PCA-derived dietary pattern and subjects in quartile four had the highest consumption of the same four food groups and therefore the highest adherence to this dietary pattern.…”

“…Standardised interviews were performed with each participant using a questionnaire, especially designed to collect extensive demographic and risk factor data (Demetriou et al 2012;Hadjisavvas et al 2010). Dietary intake was assessed using a food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) comprising of 32 food and beverage items, through a standardised diet interview.…”

“…The key characteristics of a Mediterranean diet are the frequent consumption of olive oil, the high intake of fruit, vegetables, legumes, cereals, bread and nuts, the moderate or low amounts of dairy products, fish, eggs and poultry, the low to moderate consumption of wine and the low amounts of red meat (Trichopoulou et al 1995). Recently, an association study in Greek-Cypriot women showed that a dietary pattern rich in vegetables, fruit, legumes and fish, reduces the risk of post-menopausal BC (Demetriou et al 2012). In part, this might explain the lower incidence rates of BC recorded in Mediterranean countries like Cyprus, compared with the rest of Europe and North America (GLOBOCAN 2012).…”

“…In this study, we also assessed the interactions between the MTHFR and MTR SNPs and a dietary pattern that resembles the Mediterranean dietary pattern, which was reported previously (Demetriou et al 2012) and examined the effects of their interactions on BC risk.…”