Dietary patterns, the Alternate Healthy Eating Index and plasma sex hormone concentrations in postmenopausal women

Abstract

To evaluate the association between overall diet and sex hormones concentrations, we collected blood from 578 postmenopausal women ages 43 and 69 years in 1989 or 1990. Food intake was measured in 1990 via a food frequency questionnaire. We calculated the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), and dietary patterns were identified by factor analysis. The cross-sectional association between diet and estrogens, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) were evaluated with linear regression and adjusted for energy and other potential confounders. We found a higher AHEI score was associated with lower concentrations of estradiol, free estradiol, and higher concentrations of SHBG. The prudent pattern, with higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, was not associated with any sex hormones. The Western pattern, which represents higher intakes of red and processed meats, refined grains, sweets and desserts, was associated with a higher level of estradiol and lower concentrations of SHBG. Further adjustment for BMI attenuated these results except for free estradiol (5th vs. 1st quintile 5 0.09 vs. 0.11 pg/mL, p for trend 5 0.03). In addition, the AHEI was inversely associated with estradiol among those with BMI > 25, and Western pattern with SHBG among those with BMI < 25. In conclusion, we observed inverse associations between the AHEI score and several estrogens, and it was positively associated with plasma levels of SHBG. In contrast, the Western pattern was positively associated with estrogen levels and inversely with SHBG. However, these associations appeared to be largely accounted for by BMI. ' 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Consumption of animal products, their nutrient components and postmenopausal circulating steroid hormone concentrations

“…Adjusting for BMI also attenuated the associations between dietary factors and circulating steroid hormone concentrations observed by another study (Fung et al, 2007).…”

“…In the Nurses' Health Study (Fung et al, 2007), total estrogen and free estradiol concentrations were significantly higher among women in the highest category for consumption of the Western dietary pattern that comprised of high intakes of red and processed meats. However, this association disappeared after adjustment for BMI.…”

“…It is less clear which factors influence circulating steroid hormone concentrations and subsequent risk of breast cancer (Carruba et al, 2006), although dietary factors might affect metabolism and bioavailability of steroid hormones (Fung et al, 2007).…”

“…Despite the reports that a diet high in animal products such as red and processed meat is associated with an increase in circulating steroid hormones and a reduction in SHBG concentrations, this relationship is yet to be fully elucidated (Fung et al, 2007). Similarly, reports from studies investigating the effect of dietary fat and protein on circulating steroid hormone concentrations have been unclear (Prentice et al, 1990;Holmes et al, 2000;Fontana et al, 2006).…”

Impact of cows’ milk estrogen on cancer risk

“…Many studies investigated the role of dietary components such as fat, protein and fiber, on serum estrogen levels, but most suffered from methodological faults, small sample size and lacked controls. The Nurses' Health Study found associations between different dietary patterns and serum estrogen levels in postmenopausal women, but the associations were lost after adjusting for BMI (Fung, Hu, Barbieri, Willett, & Hankinson, 2007). The effect of animal products and their nutrient components on circulating estrogens levels in postmenopausal women was investigated in the large Melbourne Collaborative Study (Brinkman et al, 2010).…”