Dietary carbohydrate quality index and incidence of obesity-related cancers in the 'Seguimiento Universidad De Navarra' (SUN) prospective cohort

Summary Purpose The quality, rather than the quantity, of carbohydrate intake may play a major role in the etiology of obesity-related cancers (ORCs). We assessed the association between a previously defined carbohydrate quality index (CQI) and the risk of developing ORCs in the “Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra” (SUN) cohort. Methods A total of 18,446 Spanish university graduates [mean age 38 years (SD 12 years), 61% women, mean BMI 23.5 kg/m2 (SD 3.5 kg/m2)], with no personal history of cancer, were followed-up. Baseline CQI was assessed summing quintiles of four previously defined criteria: high dietary fiber intake, low glycemic index (GI), high whole-grain: total-grain carbohydrates ratio and high solid carbohydrates: total carbohydrates ratio. Participants were classified into tertiles of their total CQI. Incident ORCs were confirmed by an oncologist using medical records and by querying the National Death Index blindly to dietary exposures. Results During a median follow-up of 13.7 years, 269 incident cases of ORC were confirmed. A higher CQI was inversely associated with ORC incidence [multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for the upper (T3) versus the lowest tertile (T1) of 0.68 (95% CI: 0.47–0.96), p for trend = 0.047]. Particularly, higher dietary fiber intake was inversely associated with ORC, HRT3 vs. T1=0.57 (95% CI 0.37–0.88 p for trend = 0.013). Conclusion In this prospective Mediterranean cohort, an inverse association between a better global quality of carbohydrate intake and the risk of ORCs was found. Strategies for cancer prevention should promote a higher quality of carbohydrate intake.