Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Dietary patterns and the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer in a German case–control study

  • Original paper
  • Published:
Cancer Causes & Control Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

Dietary patterns have been inconsistently associated with breast cancer risk. We assessed dietary patterns in association with postmenopausal breast cancer risk using an exploratory approach.

Methods

In a case–control study on postmenopausal breast cancer risk, including incident breast cancer cases (aged 50–74 years) diagnosed between 2002 and 2005 in Germany, information from a food frequency questionnaire among 2,884 cases and 5,509 controls was used for the identification of dietary patterns using principal component factor analysis. Unconditional logistic regression was performed to calculate odds ratios (ORs) adjusted for potential confounders for the highest versus the lowest quintile of dietary pattern score.

Results

Two major dietary patterns were identified, i.e., a “healthy” (including high vegetable and vegetable oil intake) and an “unhealthy” (including high meat and deep-frying fat intake) dietary pattern. Overall, no associations between the dietary patterns and breast cancer risk were observed (OR = 1.04, 95% confidence interval (CI) = (0.88, 1.23) and OR = 0.96, 95% CI = (0.81, 1.13), respectively). Associations did not differ by ER/PR status, body mass index, hormone replacement therapy use, education, energy intake, and smoking status.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we did not find an association of a “healthy” or “unhealthy” dietary pattern with postmenopausal breast cancer risk.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gandini S, Merzenich H, Robertson C, Boyle P (2000) Meta-analysis of studies on breast cancer risk and diet: the role of fruit and vegetable consumption and the intake of associated micronutrients. Eur J Cancer 36(5):636–646

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Smith-Warner SA, Spiegelman D, Yaun SS et al (2001) Intake of fruits and vegetables and risk of breast cancer: a pooled analysis of cohort studies. JAMA 285(6):769–776

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Michels KB, Mohllajee AP, Roset-Bahmanyar E, Beehler GP, Moysich KB (2007) Diet and breast cancer: a review of the prospective observational studies. Cancer 109(12 Suppl):2712–2749

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Lof M, Weiderpass E (2009) Impact of diet on breast cancer risk. Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol 21(1):80–85

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Hu FB (2002) Dietary pattern analysis: a new direction in nutritional epidemiology. Curr Opin Lipidol 13(1):3–9

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Cottet V, Touvier M, Fournier A et al (2009) Postmenopausal breast cancer risk and dietary patterns in the E3 N-EPIC prospective cohort study. Am J Epidemiol 170(10):1257–1267

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. De Stefani E, Deneo-Pellegrini H, Boffetta P et al (2009) Dietary patterns and risk of cancer: a factor analysis in Uruguay. Int J Cancer 124(6):1391–1397

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Wu AH, Yu MC, Tseng CC, Stanczyk FZ, Pike MC (2009) Dietary patterns and breast cancer risk in Asian American women. Am J Clin Nutr 89(4):1145–1154

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Ronco AL, De Stefani E, Boffetta P, Deneo-Pellegrini H, Acosta G, Mendilaharsu M (2006) Food patterns and risk of breast cancer: a factor analysis study in Uruguay. Int J Cancer 119(7):1672–1678

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Fung TT, Hu FB, Holmes MD et al (2005) Dietary patterns and the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. Int J Cancer 116(1):116–121

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Cui X, Dai Q, Tseng M, Shu XO, Gao YT, Zheng W (2007) Dietary patterns and breast cancer risk in the shanghai breast cancer study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 16(7):1443–1448

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Murtaugh MA, Sweeney C, Giuliano AR et al (2008) Diet patterns and breast cancer risk in Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women: the four-corners breast cancer study. Am J Clin Nutr 87(4):978–984

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Agurs-Collins T, Rosenberg L, Makambi K, Palmer JR, Adams-Campbell L (2009) Dietary patterns and breast cancer risk in women participating in the black women’s health study. Am J Clin Nutr 80(3):621–628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Adebamowo CA, Hu FB, Cho E, Spiegelman D, Holmes MD, Willett WC (2005) Dietary patterns and the risk of breast cancer. Ann Epidemiol 15(10):789–795

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Hirose K, Matsuo K, Iwata H, Tajima K (2007) Dietary patterns and the risk of breast cancer in Japanese women. Cancer Sci 98(9):1431–1438

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Engeset D, Dyachenko A, Ciampi A, Lund E (2009) Dietary patterns and risk of cancer of various sites in the Norwegian European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition cohort: the Norwegian women and cancer study. Eur J Cancer Prev 18(1):69–75

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Edefonti V, Decarli A, La VC et al (2008) Nutrient dietary patterns and the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Int J Cancer 122(3):609–613

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Edefonti V, Randi G, Decarli A et al (2009) Clustering dietary habits and the risk of breast and ovarian cancers. Ann Oncol 20(3):581–590

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Schulz M, Hoffmann K, Weikert C, Nöthlings U, Schulze MB, Boeing H (2008) Identification of a dietary pattern characterized by high-fat food choices associated with increased risk of breast cancer: the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition (EPIC)-Potsdam study. Br J Nutr 100(5):942–946

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Männistö S, Dixon LB, Balder HF et al (2005) Dietary patterns and breast cancer risk: results from three cohort studies in the DIETSCAN project. Cancer Causes Control 16(6):725–733

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Velie EM, Schairer C, Flood A, He JP, Khattree R, Schatzkin A (2005) Empirically derived dietary patterns and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer in a large prospective cohort study. Am J Clin Nutr 82(6):1308–1319

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Sieri S, Krogh V, Pala V et al (2004) Dietary patterns and risk of breast cancer in the ORDET cohort. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 13(4):567–572

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Terry P, Suzuki R, Hu FB, Wolk A (2001) A prospective study of major dietary patterns and the risk of breast cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 10(12):1281–1285

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Brennan SF, Cantwell MM, Cardwell CR, Velentzis LS, Woodside JV (2010) Dietary patterns and breast cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr 91(5):1294–1302

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Flesch-Janys D, Slanger T, Mutschelknauss E et al (2008) Risk of different histological types of postmenopausal breast cancer by type and regimen of menopausal hormone therapy. Int J Cancer 123(4):933–941

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Bohlscheid-Thomas S, Hoting I, Boeing H, Wahrendorf J (1997) Reproducibility and relative validity of energy and macronutrient intake of a food frequency questionnaire developed for the German part of the EPIC project. Reproducibility and relative validity of energy and macronutrient intake of a food frequency questionnaire developed for the German part of the EPIC project. Int J Epidemiol 26(Suppl 1):S71–S81

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Bohlscheid-Thomas S, Hoting I, Boeing H, Wahrendorf J (1997) Reproducibility and relative validity of food group intake in a food frequency questionnaire developed for the German part of the EPIC project. European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition. Int J Epidemiol 26(Suppl 1):S59–S70

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Voss S, Charrondiere UR, Slimani N et al (1998) EPIC-SOFT a European computer program for 24-hour dietary protocols. Z Ernahrungswiss 37(3):227–233

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Hu FB, Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ, Ascherio A, Spiegelman D, Willett WC (2000) Prospective study of major dietary patterns and risk of coronary heart disease in men. Am J Clin Nutr 72(4):912–921

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Kroenke CH, Fung TT, Hu FB, Holmes MD (2005) Dietary patterns and survival after breast cancer diagnosis. J Clin Oncol 23(36):9295–9303

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Rencher AC (2002) Methods of multivariate analysis. Wiley series in probability and mathematical statistics, 2nd edn. John Wiley & Sons, New York

    Google Scholar 

  32. Fuemmeler BF, Pendzich MK, Tercyak KP (2009) Weight, dietary behavior, and physical activity in childhood and adolescence: implications for adult cancer risk. Obes Facts 2(3):179–186

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Ruder EH, Dorgan JF, Kranz S, Kris-Etherton PM, Hartman TJ (2008) Examining breast cancer growth and lifestyle risk factors: early life, childhood, and adolescence. Clin Breast Cancer 8(4):334–342

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Voss S, Kroke A, Klipstein-Grobusch K, Boeing H (1997) Obesity as a major determinant of underreporting in a self-administered food frequency questionnaire: results from the EPIC-Potsdam Study. Z Ernahrungswiss 36(3):229–236

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Braam LA, Ocke MC, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Seidell JC (1998) Determinants of obesity-related underreporting of energy intake. Am J Epidemiol 147(11):1081–1086

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Bazelmans C, Matthys C, De HS et al (2007) Predictors of misreporting in an elderly population: the ‘Quality of life after 65’ study. Public Health Nutr 10(2):185–191

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Martinez ME, Marshall JR, Sechrest L (1998) Invited commentary: factor analysis and the search for objectivity. Am J Epidemiol 148(1):17–19

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Edefonti V, Randi G, La VC, Ferraroni M, Decarli A (2009) Dietary patterns and breast cancer: a review with focus on methodological issues. Nutr Rev 67(6):297–314

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Kipnis V, Subar AF, Midthune D et al (2003) Structure of dietary measurement error: results of the OPEN biomarker study. Am J Epidemiol 158(1):14–21

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all participants and clinical colleagues for supporting the study. We thank U. Eilber and D. Zoller for data management and dietary data calculation. Further, we thank R. Birr and S. Behrens for technical support. KB is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Graduiertenkolleg 793. The “Deutsche Krebshilfe e.V.” is funding the MARIE study (grant number 70-2892-BR I).

Conflict of interest

No conflicts of financial or personal interest in any company or organization are reported.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Genetic Epidemiology, Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

    Katharina Buck, Alina Vrieling & Jenny Chang-Claude

  2. Department of Medical Biometry and Epidemiology, Center for Experimental Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

    Dieter Flesch-Janys

Authors
  1. Katharina Buck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alina Vrieling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dieter Flesch-Janys
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jenny Chang-Claude
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jenny Chang-Claude.

Additional information

First affiliation––Department and institution in which the work was performed.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Buck, K., Vrieling, A., Flesch-Janys, D. et al. Dietary patterns and the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer in a German case–control study. Cancer Causes Control 22, 273–282 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9695-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9695-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation