Dietary glycemic load and cancer recurrence and survival in patients with stage III colon cancer: Findings from CALGB 89803

Abstract

Background The influence of glycemic load and related measures on survival among colon cancer patients remains largely unknown.MethodsWe conducted a prospective, observational study of 1011 stage III colon cancer patients reporting dietary intake during and 6 months after participation in an adjuvant chemotherapy trial. We examined the influence of glycemic load, glycemic index, fructose, and carbohydrate intakes on cancer recurrence and mortality using Cox proportional hazards regression; all tests of statistical significance were two-sided.ResultsStage III colon cancer patients in the highest quintile of dietary glycemic load experienced an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for disease-free survival of 1.79 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.29 to 2.48), compared with those in the lowest quintile (Ptrend across quintiles < 25kg/m2, higher glycemic load was statistically significant associated with worse disease-free survival among overweight or obese participants (BMI < 25kg/m2; HR 2.26; 95% CI 1.53 to 3.32; Ptrend across quintiles