Objective: The present study aimed to examine the relationship between dietary patterns and breast cancer risk among Chinese women.
Methods: Four hundred and thirty-eight cases with histologically confirmed primary breast cancer and 438 controls were consecutively recruited. Cases were frequency matched to controls on 5-year age group and rural-urban residence. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to assess dietary intake by face-to-face interviews. Dietary patterns were identified by factor analysis. Multivariate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated using unconditional logistic regression adjusted for various potential confounders.
Results: Two diet patterns were identified: vegetable-fruit-soy-milk-poultry-fish pattern and refined grain-meat-pickle pattern. After adjustment for confounders, a 74% decreased risk was observed among women in the highest quartile of the vegetable-fruit-soy-milk-poultry-fish dietary pattern relative to the lowest quartile (OR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.17-0.42). The refined grain-meat-pickle pattern was positively associated with breast cancer risk (OR = 2.58, 95% CI = 1.53, 4.34). Women with a high intake of the vegetable-fruit-soy-milk-poultry-fish pattern and a low intake of the refined grain-meat-pickle pattern showed a decreased risk of breast cancer (adjusted OR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.17-0.41).
Conclusions: These results indicated that a diet characterized by a high consumption of vegetable/fruit/soy/milk/poultry/fish and a low consumption of refined grain/red meat/pickle is associated with a lower risk of breast cancer in Chinese women.