Preventable cancer burden linked to poor diet in the U.S.
The "Preventable Cancer Burden Associated with Poor Diet in the United States," a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), Cancer Spectrum, estimates that diet-related factors may account for 80,110 of the new invasive cancer cases reported in 2015, or 5.2 percent of that year’s total among U.S. adults. The study, supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, shows this figure to be comparable to the cancer burden associated with alcohol, which is 4 to 6 percent. Excessive body weight, meanwhile, is associated with 7 to 8 percent of the cancer burden, and physical inactivity is associated with 2 to 3 percent.
Using a Comparative Risk Assessment model that incorporated nationally representative data on dietary intake, national cancer incidence, and estimated associations of diet with cancer risk from meta-analyses of prospective cohort studies, we estimated the annual number and proportion of new cancer cases attributable to suboptimal intakes of seven dietary factors among U.S. adults ages 20-plus years, and by population subgroups.
Outcomes showed an estimated 80,110 new cancer cases were attributable to suboptimal diet, accounting for 5.2 percent of all new cancer cases in 2015. Of these, 67,488 and 4.4 percent were attributable to direct associations; and 12,589 to obesity-mediated associations.
Specific correlations include:
· By cancer type, colorectal cancer had the highest number and proportion of diet-related cases (52,225, 38.3 percent).
· By diet, low consumption of whole grains (27,763, 1.8 percent) and dairy products (17,692, 1.2 percent) and high intake of processed meats (14,524, 1.0 percent) contributed to the highest burden.
· Men, middle-aged 45-64 years, and those from racial/ethnic minorities (non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, and others) had the highest proportion of diet-associated cancer burden than other age, sex, race/ethnicity groups.
“Our findings underscore the opportunity to reduce the cancer burden and disparities in the United States by improving food intake,” said first and corresponding author Dr. Fang Fang Zhang, a cancer and nutrition researcher at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.
