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Co-consumption of vegetables and fruit, whole grains, and fiber reduces the cancer risk of red and processed meat in a large prospective cohort of adults from Alberta’s tomorrow project
Nutrients
  • Katerina Maximova, University of Alberta
  • Elham Khodayari Moez, University of Alberta
  • Julia Dabravolskaj, University of Alberta
  • Alexa R. Ferdinands, University of Alberta
  • Irina Dinu, University of Alberta
  • Geraldine Lo Siou, Alberta Health Services
  • Ala Al Rajabi, Zayed University
  • Paul J. Veugelers, University of Alberta
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2020
Abstract

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. We examined whether co-consumption of red and processed meat with key foods items and food constituents recommended for cancer prevention (vegetables and fruit, whole grains, and fiber) mitigates cancer incidence. In a prospective cohort of 26,218 adults aged 35–69 years at baseline, dietary intake was collected through 124-item past-year food frequency questionnaire. Incidence of all-cause and 15 cancers previously linked to red and processed meat intake was obtained through data linkage with a cancer registry (average follow-up 13.5 years). Competing risk Cox Proportional Hazard models estimated cancer risk and Accelerated Failure Time models estimated time-to-cancer occurrence for different combinations of intake levels while considering mortality from vital statistics and established confounders. Co-consumption of low vegetables and fruit intake with high processed meat was associated with higher incidence of all-cause and 15 cancers (men: HR = 1.85, 1.91; women: HR = 1.44, 1.49) and accelerated time-to-cancer occurrence (men: 6.5 and 7.1 years and women: 5.6 and 6.3 years, respectively), compared to high vegetables and fruit with low processed meat intake. Less pronounced and less consistent associations were observed for whole grains and fiber and for red meat. The findings provide initial evidence toward refining existing cancer prevention recommendations to optimize the intake and combination of foods in the general adult population.

Publisher
MDPI AG
Keywords
  • Cancer prevention,
  • Fiber,
  • Healthy eating,
  • Processed meat,
  • Red meat,
  • Vegetables and fruit,
  • Whole grains
Scopus ID

85088896324

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Indexed in Scopus
Yes
Open Access
Yes
Open Access Type
Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series
Citation Information
Katerina Maximova, Elham Khodayari Moez, Julia Dabravolskaj, Alexa R. Ferdinands, et al.. "Co-consumption of vegetables and fruit, whole grains, and fiber reduces the cancer risk of red and processed meat in a large prospective cohort of adults from Alberta’s tomorrow project" Nutrients Vol. 12 Iss. 8 (2020) p. 1 - 21 ISSN: <p><a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/issn/2072-6643" target="_blank">2072-6643</a></p>
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ala-rajabi/4/