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Meta-analysis: eating frequency and risk of colorectal cancer

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

Eating frequency has been implicated in the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) in several epidemiological studies with contradictory and inconclusive findings. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate their relationship. The pooled relative risk (RR) with 95 % confidence interval (CI) was calculated to estimate the effects. A total of 15 eligible studies with 141,431 subjects and 11,248 cases were retrieved after a comprehensive search of the PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases up to October 2013. The overall meta-analysis revealed no strong significant association between eating frequency and risk of CRC in different eating occasion categories (1 meal/day): RR = 1.01, 95 % CI 0.94–1.09, P = 0.709; 3 vs. <3 daily meals: RR = 1.17, 95 % CI 0.93–1.46; 4 vs. <3 daily meals: RR = 1.13, 95 % CI 0.92–1.38; ≥5 vs. <3 daily meals: RR = 0.95, 95 % CI 0.61–1.47; 4 vs. ≤3 daily meals: RR = 1.18, 95 % CI 0.92–1.51; and 1–2 vs. 3 or 4 daily meals: RR = 0.82, 95 % CI 0.63–1.06). However, modest evidence of an increased risk of CRC in case–control studies (RR = 1.30; 95 % CI, 1.11–1.52) and ≥5 vs. ≤3 meals group (RR = 1.30; 95 % CI, 1.11–1.52) was observed. Our meta-analysis results do not support the hypothesis that eating frequency strongly reduced or increased the risk of CRC. Clinical randomized trials are required to evaluate this relationship further.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Laboratory, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, China

    Yanqiong Liu, Limin Zhai, Shi Yang, Junrong Wu, Li Xie, Jian Wang, Yan Deng, Xue Qin & Shan Li

  2. Department of Colorectal and Anal Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, China

    Weizhong Tang

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  1. Yanqiong Liu
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  2. Weizhong Tang
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  4. Shi Yang
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Correspondence to Xue Qin or Shan Li.

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Yanqiong Liu and Weizhong Tang contributed equally to this work and should be considered as co-first authors

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Liu, Y., Tang, W., Zhai, L. et al. Meta-analysis: eating frequency and risk of colorectal cancer. Tumor Biol. 35, 3617–3625 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-013-1479-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-013-1479-3

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