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

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition 2012-04, Vol.66 (4), p.517-522
• Main Authors: Turati, F, Edefonti, V, Bravi, F, Ferraroni, M, Talamini, R, Giacosa, A, Montella, M, Parpinel, M, La Vecchia, C, Decarli, A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 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
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/ejcn.2011.217

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.