Misreporting characterized by the reporting of implausible energy intakes may undermine the valid estimation of diet-disease relations, but the methods to best identify and account for misreporting ...are unknown. The present study compared how alternate approaches affected associations between selected dietary factors and body mass index (BMI) by using data from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition-Spain. A total of 24,332 women and 15,061 men 29-65 years of age recruited from 1992 to 1996 for whom measured height and weight and validated diet history data were available were included. Misreporters were identified on the basis of disparities between reported energy intakes and estimated requirements calculated using the original Goldberg method and 2 alternatives: one that substituted basal metabolic rate equations that are more valid at higher BMIs and another that used doubly labeled water-predicted total energy expenditure equations. Compared with results obtained using the original method, underreporting was considerably lower and overreporting higher with alternative methods, which were highly concordant. Accounting for misreporters with all methods yielded diet-BMI relations that were more consistent with expectations; alternative methods often strengthened associations. For example, among women, multivariable-adjusted differences in BMI for the highest versus lowest vegetable intake tertile (β = 0.37 (standard error, 0.07)) were neutral after adjusting with the original method (β = 0.01 (standard error, 07)) and negative using the predicted total energy expenditure method with stringent cutoffs (β = -0.15 (standard error, 0.07)). Alternative methods may yield more valid associations between diet and obesity-related outcomes.
Epidemiological studies show that adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MD) increases longevity; however, few studies are restricted to Mediterranean populations or explore the effect of a MD pattern ...that directly incorporates olive oil. Therefore the relationship between adherence to the MD and mortality was studied within the the Spanish cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Spain). The EPIC-Spain analysis included 40 622 participants (37·7 % males) aged 29–69 years who were recruited from five Spanish regions in 1992–1996. During a mean follow-up of 13·4 years, 1855 deaths were documented: 913 from cancer, 399 from CVD, 425 from other causes and 118 from unknown causes of death. Risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality was assessed according to the level of adherence to a relative MD (rMED) score, measured using an 18-unit scale incorporating nine selected dietary components. A high compared with a low rMED score was associated with a significant reduction in mortality from all causes (hazard ratio (HR) 0·79; 95 % CI 0·69, 0·91), from CVD (HR 0·66; 95 % CI 0·49, 0·89), but not from overall cancer (HR 0·92; 95 % CI 0·75, 1·12). A 2-unit increase in rMED score was associated with a 6 % (P < 0·001) decreased risk of all-cause mortality. A high olive oil intake and moderate alcohol consumption contributed most to this association. In this Spanish cohort, following an olive oil-rich MD was related to a significant reduction in all-cause mortality, and reduced the risk of mortality from CVD. These results support the important role that the MD pattern has on reducing mortality in Mediterranean countries.
Metabolomics is a promising molecular tool to identify novel etiologic pathways leading to cancer. Using a targeted approach, we prospectively investigated the associations between metabolite ...concentrations in plasma and breast cancer risk.
A nested case-control study was established within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer cohort, which included 1624 first primary incident invasive breast cancer cases (with known estrogen and progesterone receptor and HER2 status) and 1624 matched controls. Metabolites (n = 127, acylcarnitines, amino acids, biogenic amines, glycerophospholipids, hexose, sphingolipids) were measured by mass spectrometry in pre-diagnostic plasma samples and tested for associations with breast cancer incidence using multivariable conditional logistic regression.
Among women not using hormones at baseline (n = 2248), and after control for multiple tests, concentrations of arginine (odds ratio OR per SD = 0.79, 95% confidence interval CI = 0.70-0.90), asparagine (OR = 0.83 (0.74-0.92)), and phosphatidylcholines (PCs) ae C36:3 (OR = 0.83 (0.76-0.90)), aa C36:3 (OR = 0.84 (0.77-0.93)), ae C34:2 (OR = 0.85 (0.78-0.94)), ae C36:2 (OR = 0.85 (0.78-0.88)), and ae C38:2 (OR = 0.84 (0.76-0.93)) were inversely associated with breast cancer risk, while the acylcarnitine C2 (OR = 1.23 (1.11-1.35)) was positively associated with disease risk. In the overall population, C2 (OR = 1.15 (1.06-1.24)) and PC ae C36:3 (OR = 0.88 (0.82-0.95)) were associated with risk of breast cancer, and these relationships did not differ by breast cancer subtype, age at diagnosis, fasting status, menopausal status, or adiposity.
These findings point to potentially novel pathways and biomarkers of breast cancer development. Results warrant replication in other epidemiological studies.
Scope
Low‐grade chronic inflammation is associated with several chronic conditions, and diet is known to play a role in chronic inflammation. We aimed to evaluate the association between the ...inflammatory potential of the diet and mortality in the Spanish population from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC‐Spain).
Methods and results
The study included 41 199 participants (62% female) aged 29–69 years from five Spanish regions. During 18 years of follow‐up 3316 deaths were identified. The dietary inflammatory potential was assessed by means of an inflammatory score of the diet (ISD), calculated using 30 dietetic components and their corresponding inflammatory scores (weights). The association between the ISD and mortality was analyzed by multivariate Cox regression models. There was a significant association between ISD and mortality: subjects classified in the fifth quintile of the ISD (more proinflammatory diets) had a hazard ratio of 1.42 (95%‐confidence interval 1.25–1.60) as compared with those in the first quintile; the corresponding figures were 1.89 (1.48–2.40) for cardiovascular diseases mortality and 1.44 (1.22–1.69) for death by cancer.
Conclusion
Consuming more proinflammatory diets, expressed by means of the ISD, is associated with higher mortality; this effect seems to be stronger for deaths by cardiovascular diseases.
An inflammatory score is calculated to assess the inflammatory potential of the usual diet of about 41 000 Spanish adults. The study analyzes the impact on mortality of the inflammatory potential of diet together with body composition and physical activity. Inactive subjects with proinflammatory diets and abdominal obesity have 46% higher risk of death than nonobese and active subjects with more anti‐inflammatory diets.
Although there is some evidence suggesting that olive oil could reduce breast cancer (BC) risk, the epidemiological data are still relatively limited, not entirely consistent and mainly based on ...case–control studies. Therefore, we prospectively assessed the association between olive oil and BC risk in postmenopausal women from the Mediterranean cohorts within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. The analysis included 62,284 postmenopausal women recruited from Spain, Italy and Greece who had complete dietary data (collected from validated country‐specific dietary questionnaires). The risk of BC (overall and by hormone receptor subtypes) was assessed using hazards ratios (HRs) obtained from Cox proportional hazards regression, while adjusting for known BC risk factors. After a mean follow‐up of 9 years, 1,256 women were diagnosed with a primary incident invasive BC. The multivariate HRs for BC risk by olive oil intake (highest vs. lowest tertile of g/day/2,000 kcal) were 1.07 (95% CI = 0.91–1.25) in the adjusted model, 1.06 (95% CI = 0.91–1.24) in the model additionally adjusted for reproductive‐related factors and 1.10 (95% CI = 0.92–1.31) for the model additionally adjusted for dietary factors. There was no association between olive oil and risk of estrogen or progesterone receptor‐positive tumors, but a suggestion of a negative association with estrogens and progesterone receptor‐negative tumors. The results from our prospective study showed that olive oil consumption during adult life was not associated with the risk of BC. However, larger prospective studies are still needed to explore possible differences related to hormone receptor status.
Abstract Objective Large-scale longitudinal data on the association of domain-specific physical activity (PA) and mortality is limited. Our objective was to evaluate the association of work, ...household (HPA), and leisure time PA (LTPA) with overall and cause-specific mortality in the EPIC-Spain study. Methods 38,379 participants (62.4% women), 30–65 years old, and free of chronic disease at baseline were followed-up from recruitment (1992 - 1996) to December 31st, 2008 to ascertain vital status and cause of death. PA was evaluated at baseline and at a 3-year follow-up with a validated questionnaire (EPIC-PAQ) and combined variables were used to classify the participants by sub-domains of PA. Associations with overall, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality risks were assessed using competing risk Cox regression models adjusted by potential confounders. Results After 13.6 years of mean follow-up, 1371 deaths were available for analyses. HPA was strongly associated to reduced overall (hazard ratio (HR) for Q4 vs. Q1 = 0.47 (0.34, 0.64)) and cause-specific mortalities in women and to lower cancer mortality in men ( P for trend = 0.004), irrespective of age, education, and lifestyle and morbidity variables. LTPA was associated with lower mortality in women (HR for Q4 vs. Q1 = 0.71 (0.52, 0.98)), but not men. No relationships were found between sedentariness at work and overall mortality. Conclusions HPA was associated to lower mortality risk in men and women from the EPIC-Spain cohort, whereas LTPA also contributed to reduce risk of death in women. Considering the large proportion of total daily PA that HPA represents in some population groups, these results are of public health importance.
The consumption of processed meats (PMs) and red meats are linked to the likelihood of developing colorectal cancer. Various theories have been proposed to explain this connection, focusing on ...nitrosyl-heme and heme iron intake. We hypothesized that differences in nitrosyl-heme and heme iron intakes will be associated with various sociodemographic and lifestyle factors.
The study included 38,471 healthy volunteers (62% females) from five Spanish regions within the EPIC-Spain cohort. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) determined nitrosyl-heme and heme iron levels in the 39 most consumed PMs. Food intake was assessed using validated questionnaires in interviews. Nitrosyl-heme and heme iron intakes, adjusted for sex, age, body mass index (BMI), center, and energy intake, were expressed as geometric means due to their skewed distribution. Variance analysis identified foods explaining the variability of nitrosyl-heme and heme iron intakes.
The estimated intakes were 528.6 µg/day for nitrosyl-heme and 1676.2 µg/day for heme iron. Significant differences in nitrosyl-heme intake were found by sex, center, energy, and education level. Heme iron intake varied significantly by sex, center, energy, and smoking status. "
" and "
"
the highest intake values, while "
" and "
" were key sources of nitrosyl-heme and heme iron.
This is the first study to estimate levels of nitrosyl-heme intake directly in PMs for a large sample, revealing variations based on sex, BMI, smoking, and activity. Its data aids future exposure estimations in diverse populations.
Objective
To explore the association between three previously identified dietary patterns (Western, Prudent and Mediterranean) and prostate cancer (PCa) risk by tumour aggressiveness.
Subjects and ...Methods
The Spanish cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study provided dietary and epidemiological information from 15 296 men recruited during the period 1992–1996. The associations between the adherence to the three dietary patterns and PCa risk (global, for Gleason grade groups 6 and >6, and for International Society of Urological Pathology ISUP grade 1 + 2 and ISUP grade 3 + 4 + 5) was explored with multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models stratified by centre and age.
Results
While no effect on PCa risk was detected for the Prudent and Mediterranean dietary patterns, a suggestion of a detrimental effect of the Western dietary pattern was found (hazard ratio HRQ4vsQ1 1.29 95% confidence interval {CI} 0.96;1.72). This effect was only observed for Gleason grade group >6 (HRQ3vsQ1 1.61 95% CI 1.00; 2.59 and HRQ4vsQ1 1.60 95% CI 0.96; 2.67) and in particular ISUP grade 3 + 4 + 5 tumours (HRQ2vsQ1 1.97 95% CI 0.98; 3.93; HRQ3vsQ1 2.72 (95% CI 1.35; 5.51); HRQ4vsQ1 2.29 95% CI 1.07; 4.92).
Conclusions
Our results suggest that a high adherence to a healthy diet such as that represented by the Prudent and Mediterranean dietary patterns is not enough to prevent prostate cancer. Additionally, reducing adherence to a Western‐type diet seems to be necessary.
Olive oil is well known for its cardioprotective properties; however, epidemiological data showing that olive oil consumption reduces incident CHD events are still limited. Therefore, we studied the ...association between olive oil and CHD in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Spanish cohort study. The analysis included 40 142 participants (38 % male), free of CHD events at baseline, recruited from five EPIC-Spain centres from 1992 to 1996 and followed up until 2004. Baseline dietary and lifestyle information was collected using interview-administered questionnaires. Cox proportional regression models were used to assess the relationship between validated incident CHD events and olive oil intake (energy-adjusted quartiles and each 10 g/d per 8368 kJ (2000 kcal) increment), while adjusting for potential confounders. During a 10·4-year follow-up, 587 (79 % male) CHD events were recorded. Olive oil intake was negatively associated with CHD risk after excluding dietary mis-reporters (hazard ratio (HR) 0·93; 95 % CI 0·87, 1·00 for each 10 g/d per 8368 kJ (2000 kcal) and HR 0·78; 95 % CI 0·59, 1·03 for upper v. lower quartile). The inverse association between olive oil intake (per 10 g/d per 8368 kJ (2000 kcal)) and CHD was more pronounced in never smokers (11 % reduced CHD risk (P = 0·048)), in never/low alcohol drinkers (25 % reduced CHD risk (P < 0·001)) and in virgin olive oil consumers (14 % reduced CHD risk (P = 0·072)). In conclusion, olive oil consumption was related to a reduced risk of incident CHD events. This emphasises the need to conserve the traditional culinary use of olive oil within the Mediterranean diet to reduce the CHD burden.
The nutritional determinants of stroke and, more specifically, the association of frying with the risk of incident stroke have rarely been studied.
Our aim was to evaluate prospectively the ...association between the consumption of fried food and the risk of incident stroke in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study using the Spanish cohort.
Participants included 40,328 healthy adults (62% women) aged 29–69 y at study entry who were enrolled between 1992 and 1996. Participants were followed up until 31 December, 2017, at which time incident stroke (the main outcome) was measured. The main exposure measure was the percentage of energy obtained from fried-food consumption. Sex-specific quintiles were calculated.
During a follow-up period of 23.5 y, 975 cases of stroke occurred (750 ischemic, 185 hemorrhagic, and 40 undetermined). Compared with those in the first (lowest) quintile of fried-food consumption, the multivariate HRs (95% CIs) of incident stroke in the consecutive quintiles were 1.05 (0.86, 1.30), 1.11 (0.90, 1.36), 1.05 (0.84, 1.31), and 0.91 (0.72, 1.15; P-trend = 0.45). There were no differences identified when subtypes of stroke were considered.
In this Spanish cohort, whose participants mainly used olive oil or sunflower oil when frying, the consumption of fried food was not associated with an increased risk of incident stroke.