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Role of dietary patterns and acculturation in cancer risk and mortality among postmenopausal Hispanic women: results from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI)
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Role of dietary patterns and acculturation in cancer risk and mortality among postmenopausal Hispanic women: results from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI)

Melissa Lopez-Pentecost, Tracy E Crane, David O Garcia, Lindsay N Kohler, Betsy C Wertheim, James R Hebert, Susan E Steck, Nitin Shivappa, Margarita Santiago-Torres, Marian L Neuhouser, …
Journal of public health, Vol.30, pp.811-822
07/14/2020
DOI: 10.1007/s10389-020-01342-8
PMCID: PMC9119584
PMID: 35602929
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/9119584View
Open Access

Abstract

Aim To investigate the association between dietary patterns and total and obesity-related cancer risk as well as to examine if acculturation modifies this relationship. Subjects and methods Dietary intake of postmenopausal Hispanic women (N = 5,482) enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative was estimated from a Food Frequency Questionnaire and used to calculate dietary pattern scores: Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015), Mexican Diet (MexD) score, alternate Mediterranean Diet Score (aMED), and the energy adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index (E-DII™). Associations were evaluated using Cox proportional hazard regression models. Results Six hundred thirty-one cancers and 396 obesity-related cancers were diagnosed over a mean follow-up of 12 years. Across dietary scores, there were no significant associations with cancer risk or mortality. Trend analysis suggested a potentially lower risk for total cancer mortality related to the highest MexD score (HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.45–1.04, P-trend = 0.03) and lower risk for obesity-related cancer mortality related to the highest score category for MexD (HR 0.65, 95% CI 0.37–1.16, P-trend = 0.02) and aMED (HR 0.87, 95% CI 0.45–1.67, P-trend = 0.04). Further analysis suggested less acculturated women with higher MexD scores had a 56% lower risk for any cancer (HR 0.44, 95% CI 0.22–0.88, P-trend = 0.03) and 83% lower risk for cancer mortality (HR 0.17, 95% CI 0.04–0.76, P-trend = 0.01) compared to more acculturated Hispanic women. Conclusions Dietary patterns were not associated with cancer risk and mortality in postmenopausal Hispanic women. Less acculturated, Spanish-preferred speakers who report consuming a more traditional Mexican diet may experience a lower risk of cancer and cancer mortality.

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