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Dietary fat and fatty acids in relation to risk of colorectal cancer

  • Original Contribution
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European Journal of Nutrition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Epidemiologic evidence for specific types and sources of dietary fat and individual fatty acid with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk remains inconclusive. We aimed to comprehensively examine the associations of intakes of specific types (saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and trans) and sources (animal, dairy, and vegetable) of dietary fat and individual fatty acid with CRC risk.

Design

We prospectively followed 65,550 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (1986–2014) and 45,684 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986–2014). Dietary intake was assessed every 4 years using food frequency questionnaires. Self-reported CRC cases were confirmed through medical record review. Time-dependent Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) for intakes of dietary fats and fatty acids and CRC risk.

Results

During 2,705,560 person-years of follow-up, 2726 incident CRC cases were confirmed. Intake of monounsaturated fat tended to be positively associated with the risk of CRC (HR comparing extreme quintiles 1.22; 95% CI 1.01, 1.47; p = 0.06 for trend). This positive association was mainly driven by monounsaturated fatty acids from animal sources (MUFA-As) (HR comparing extreme quintiles 1.23; 95% CI 1.02, 1.49; p = 0.02 for trend). The positive association between MUFA-As and CRC was attenuated after adjusting for red and processed meat consumption (HR comparing extreme quintiles 1.17; 95% CI 0.95, 1.44; p = 0.13 for trend). We did not find clear associations between other types and sources of dietary fat or individual fatty acid and CRC risk.

Conclusions

Higher intake of MUFA-As was associated with higher CRC risk. This could be partly explained by confounding due to other components of red and processed meat.

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Data availability

Data described in the manuscript, code book, and analytic code will be made available upon request pending application and approval.

Abbreviations

CRC:

Colorectal cancer

SFA:

Saturated fatty acids 

MUFA:

Monounsaturated fatty acids

FFQ:

Food frequency questionnaire

MUFA-As:

Monounsaturated fatty acids from animal sources

MUFA-Ps:

Monounsaturted fatty acids from plant sources

NHS:

Nurses’ Health Study

HPFS:

Health Professionals Follow-up Study

NSAIDs:

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

MET:

Metabolic equivalent of task

BMI:

Body mass index

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the participants and staff of the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study for their valuable contributions as well as the following state cancer registries for their help: AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, NE, NH, NJ, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, and WY. The authors assume full responsibility for analyses and interpretation of these data.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (UM1 CA186107, P01 CA87969, and U01 CA167552). The sponsors had no role in the study design; the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the article for publication.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Yi Wan, Kana Wu, Mingyang Song, Edward L. Giovannucci & Walter C. Willett

  2. Center of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Liang Wang

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Liang Wang, Kanhua Yin, Mingyang Song, Edward L. Giovannucci & Walter C. Willett

  4. Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Mingyang Song

  5. Division of Gastroenterology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Mingyang Song

  6. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Edward L. Giovannucci & Walter C. Willett

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  1. Yi Wan
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Contributions

YW, ELG, and WCW were involved in the study concept and design. YW, KW, and LW were involved in statistical analysis. YW, KW, LW, KY, MS, ELG, and WCW participated in interpretation of data. YW and WCW had primary responsibility for final content. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yi Wan.

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Wan, Y., Wu, K., Wang, L. et al. Dietary fat and fatty acids in relation to risk of colorectal cancer. Eur J Nutr 61, 1863–1873 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-021-02777-9

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