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A dietary pattern that is associated with C-peptide and risk of colorectal cancer in women

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Abstract

Purpose

Higher serum C-peptide concentrations have shown to be associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Therefore, we used diet information to identify food groups that correlated with fasting serum concentrations of C-peptide and assess the association of this dietary pattern and CRC risk.

Methods

Major food contributors to fasting C-peptide concentrations were identified with stepwise linear regression in a subsample (n = 833) of women from a large cohort. We then summed the consumption frequency of the major food contributors to form a C-peptide dietary pattern for the entire cohort (n = 66,714). Risk for CRC was computed using Cox proportional hazard model with the C-peptide dietary pattern score as the predictor.

Results

In up to 20 years of follow-up, we ascertained 985 cases of CRC and 758 colon cancer. After adjusting for confounders, the C-peptide dietary pattern, characterized by higher meat, fish, and sweetened beverage intake, but lower coffee, high fat dairy, and whole grains intake, showed direct association with CRC risk (RR comparing extreme quintiles = 1.29, 95 % CI = 1.05–1.58, p trend = 0.048). The same comparison was slightly stronger for colon cancer (RR = 1.35, 95 % CI = 1.07–1.70, p trend = 0.009). In stratified analysis, there was no association between the C-peptide dietary pattern and colon cancer among lean and active women. However, for overweight or sedentary women, RR for the same comparison was 1.58 (95 % CI = 1.20–2.07, p trend = 0.002) (p for interaction = 0.007).

Conclusion

We derived a dietary pattern that correlated with C-peptide concentrations. This pattern was associated with an increase in colon cancer, especially among women who were overweight or sedentary.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participants and staff of the Nurses’ Health 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, WY. This work is funded by the National Institute of Health research grants CA87969, HL60712, and CA95589.

Conflict of interest

There is not conflict of interest for any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Teresa T. Fung

  2. Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 667 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Teresa T. Fung, Frank B. Hu & Edward Giovannucci

  3. Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Frank B. Hu & Edward Giovannucci

  4. Department of Medical Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Charles S. Fuchs

  5. German Institute of Human Nutrition, and Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Matthias Schulze

  6. Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Michael Pollak

  7. Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Tianying Wu

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  1. Teresa T. Fung
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  2. Frank B. Hu
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  3. Matthias Schulze
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  4. Michael Pollak
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  5. Tianying Wu
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  6. Charles S. Fuchs
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  7. Edward Giovannucci
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Teresa T. Fung.

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Fung, T.T., Hu, F.B., Schulze, M. et al. A dietary pattern that is associated with C-peptide and risk of colorectal cancer in women. Cancer Causes Control 23, 959–965 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-9969-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-9969-y

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