Adherence to mediterranean diet and the risk of differentiated thyroid cancer in a European cohort: The EPIC study

Abstract

BackgroundThe Mediterranean diet (MD) has been proposed as a healthy diet with a potential to lower the incidence of several types of cancer, but there is no data regarding thyroid cancer (TC). We investigated the association between MD adherence, and its components, and the differentiated TC risk within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort.MethodsOver 450,000 men and women from nine European countries were followed up for a mean of 14.1 years, during which 712 differentiated TC cases were identified. Adherence to MD was estimated using the relative MD (rMED) score, an 18-point scale including alcohol, and the adapted rMED (arMED) score, a 16-point scale excluding alcohol. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox regression models adjusted for potential confounding factors.ResultsAdherence to the arMED score was not associated with the risk of differentiated TC (HRhigh vs. low adherence = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.70–1.25; p-trend 0.27), while a suggestive, but non-statistically significant inverse relationship was observed with rMED (HRhigh vs. low adherence = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.68–1.14; p-trend 0.17). Low meat (HRlow vs. high meat intake = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.67–0.99; p-trend = 0.04) and moderate alcohol (HRmoderate vs. non−moderate intake = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.75–1.03) intake were related with lower differentiated TC risk.ConclusionsOur study shows that a high adherence to MD is not strongly related to differentiated TC risk, although further research is required to confirm the impact of MD and, especially, meat intake in TC risk.

Tumor Microbial Communities and Thyroid Cancer Development—The Protective Role of Antioxidant Nutrients: Application Strategies and Future Directions

“…Furthermore, the few studies conducted with the aim of exploring the association between dietary habits and the risk for TC highlighted that while dietary patterns of fruits, vegetables, seafood, and milk and dairy products led to a reduced risk of TC [10,181,182], the Western dietary pattern-starchy foods, sweets, and products rich in salt and fat-showed a significantly positive association with TC risk [10,183]. In contrast, the EPIC study, conducted on over 450,000 men and women from nine European countries for a total of 712 cases of differentiated TC identified over a 14.1-year follow-up, did not find a significant association between high adherence to a Mediterranean diet and decreased risk of differentiated TC [184].…”

The Effect of Mediterranean Diet on Thyroid Gland Activity

“…Using the relative Mediterranean diet score (rMED score) and adjusted relative Mediterranean diet score (arMED score), they assessed how well participants adhered to the Mediterranean diet. The results showed that high adherence to the Mediterranean diet was not associated with the development of differentiated thyroid carcinoma [ 19 ].…”