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Increased risk of early-stage breast cancer related to consumption of sweet foods among women less than age 45 in the United States

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Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the associations of dietary macronutrients, food groups, and eating patterns with risk of breast cancer in a population-based case–control study. Methods: In this study among women 20–44 years of age, 568 cases with breast cancer and 1451 population-based controls were included. They completed a detailed in-person interview, a self-administered food-frequency questionnaire and were measured for anthropometric indices. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) of breast cancer, adjusted for age, study site, race, education, alcohol consumption, oral contraceptive usage, smoking status, and body mass index. Results: There was no association between breast cancer risk and intake of calories, macronutrients, or types of fat. Risk of breast cancer was unrelated to intakes of a variety of food groups, including red meats, dairy, high-fat snacks and desserts, or foods high in animal fat. Increased risk was observed for high intake of a food group composed of sweet items, particularly sodas and desserts. Risk increased linearly with percent of calories from sweets and frequency of sweets intake. Consumption of sweets 9.8 or more times per week compared with <2.8 times per week was associated with an adjusted OR of 1.32 (95% CI = 1.0–1.8). This association did not appear to be due to the high-fat foods or carbonated beverages that comprised the food group. Compared with women reporting one or two meals and snacks per day, reduced risks were noted for women reporting six or more (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.4–1.1). Conclusions: These data suggest a modest relationship between intakes of sweet items with risk of in-situ and localized breast cancer in young women. This relation is consistent with the hypothesized link of high insulin exposure and risk of breast cancer. There was some suggestion that women who ate many times during the day were at reduced risk of disease, which is also consistent with an insulin-related mechanism.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cancer Control and Population Studies, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Nancy Potischman

  2. Applied Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, 6130 Executive Blvd. MSC 7344, Bethesda, MD, 20892-7344, USA

    Nancy Potischman

  3. Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Ralph J. Coates

  4. Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Christine A. Swanson

  5. Department of Statistics, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Raymond J. Carroll

  6. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA

    Janet R. Daling

  7. Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Donna R. Brogan

  8. Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Marilie D. Gammon

  9. Division of Cancer Prevention, Inc., Silver Spring, MD, USA

    Douglas Midthune

  10. Information Management Services, Inc., Silver Spring, MD, USA

    Jane Curtin

  11. Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Louise A. Brinton

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  1. Nancy Potischman
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Potischman, N., Coates, R.J., Swanson, C.A. et al. Increased risk of early-stage breast cancer related to consumption of sweet foods among women less than age 45 in the United States. Cancer Causes Control 13, 937–946 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021919416101

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