Abstract

Few prospective cohort studies in the UK have specifically focused on the associations between commonly consumed dietary patterns and colorectal cancer (CRC). The aim of our study was to assess whether red meat, poultry, fish and vegetarian dietary patterns are associated with differences in the incidence of cancers of colon and rectum in the UKWCS. Four common dietary patterns were defined based on a hierarchy of consumption of red meat, poultry and fish for each cohort participant, using a 217‐item food frequency questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to provide adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for CRC. A total of 32,147 women recruited and surveyed between 1995 and 1998 were followed up for a mean of 17.2 years (426,798 person‐years). A total of 462 incident CRC cases were documented; 335 colon cancers (172 proximal and 119 distal) and 152 in the rectum. In multivariable‐adjusted models, there was no evidence of a reduction in risk of overall CRC (HR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.66–1.12), colon cancer (HR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.56–1.05) or rectal cancer (HR = 1.04, 95% CI: 0.66–1.63) when comparing grouped red meat free diets with diets containing red meat. Exploratory analysis suggested a reduced risk of distal colon cancer in grouped red meat free diets (HR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.34–0.95), though numbers with this outcome were small. These results indicate that a protective association of red meat free diets specifically on distal colon cancer merits confirmation in a larger study.

Highlights

  • Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and the third in men worldwide.[1]

  • Baseline characteristics according to dietary pattern Of 35,372 women available at baseline, we excluded women who did not provide sufficient data at baseline to allow flagging for cancer incidence notification on NHS Digital (n 5 688), women self-reporting history of any previous malignant cancer at baseline, except for non-melanoma of the skin (n 5 2,398), women who were diagnosed with CRC within 1 year of baseline (n 5 53) and women with energy intakes outside the plausible range of 500–6,000 kcal/day (n 5 86)

  • Women in the poultry eaters, fish eaters and vegetarian groups were likely to be younger, had a lower body mass index (BMI) and engaged in more physical activity compared to red meat eaters

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Summary

Introduction

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and the third in men worldwide.[1].

Objectives
Methods
Results
Conclusion

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