Journal Article

Adherence to the European food safety authority's dietary recommendations and colorectal cancer risk

Turati, F, Decarli, A, Giacosa, A, Ferraroni, M, Parpinel, M, Talamini, R, Montella, M, Bravi, F, La Vecchia, C, Edefonti, V

2012

Overview

Background/Objective: The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently published dietary guidelines for the intakes of carbohydrates, fiber, fats and water. We evaluated their role on the risk of a specific disease, known to be related to diet. Subjects/Methods: We used data from an Italian case-control study including 1953 colorectal cancer (CRC) cases and 4154 controls. We developed a so-called EFSA index summing up 1 point for adherence to each EFSA guideline. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of CRC and its subsites were derived from unconditional multiple logistic regression models, for both the index and its components. Results: When each EFSA index component was analyzed separately, we found significant increased risks of CRC for non adherence to the guidelines on linoleic (OR=1.20, 95% CI, 1.07–1.36) and alpha-linolenic fatty acids (OR=1.19, 95% CI, 1.06–1.34). When all the guidelines were included in the same model, no significant association emerged. Compared with minimal adherence, the ORs of CRC for subsequent EFSA index scores were 1.03 (95% CI, 0.72–1.47), 1.05 (95% CI, 0.75–1.48), 1.04 (95% CI, 0.81–1.60), 0.99 (95% CI, 0.69–1.43), and 1.04 (95% CI, 0.67–1.61). No significant association emerged for colon and rectal cancer separately, and for males and females. Conclusions: Overall adherence to the EFSA dietary guidelines is not associated to colorectal, colon and rectal cancer risk in our population. Adherence to guidelines on linoleic and alpha-linolenic fatty acids may have a modest beneficial role on CRC risk.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 692/699/1503/1504/1885 / 692/700/478 / Adult / Aged / Biological and medical sciences / Cancer / Carbohydrates / Case studies / Case-Control Studies / Clinical Nutrition / Colon / Colon cancer / Colorectal cancer / Colorectal carcinoma / Colorectal Neoplasms - prevention & control / Confidence Intervals / Development and progression / Diet / Dietary Carbohydrates - administration & dosage / Dietary Fats - administration & dosage / Dietary Fiber - administration & dosage / Dietary guidelines / Energy Intake / Epidemiology / European Continental Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data / Fatty acids / Feeding. Feeding behavior / Female / Food / Food safety / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / Gastroenterology. Liver. Pancreas. Abdomen / Guidelines / Guidelines as Topic / Health aspects / Health risks / Humans / Internal Medicine / Logistic Models / Male / Medical sciences / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Metabolic Diseases / Middle Aged / Odds Ratio / original-article / Patient Compliance - statistics & numerical data / Physiological aspects / Public Health / Rectum / Regression analysis / Regression models / Risk / Risk Factors / Safety and security measures / Statistical analysis / Stomach. Duodenum. Small intestine. Colon. Rectum. Anus / Tumors / Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems