Adherence to the European food safety authority's dietary recommendations and colorectal cancer risk

Abstract

Background/Objective:The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently published dietary guidelines for the intakes of carbohydrates, fiber, fats and water. We evaluated their role on the risk of a specific disease, known to be related to diet.Subjects/Methods:We used data from an Italian case-control study including 1953 colorectal cancer (CRC) cases and 4154 controls. We developed a so-called EFSA index summing up 1 point for adherence to each EFSA guideline. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of CRC and its subsites were derived from unconditional multiple logistic regression models, for both the index and its components.Results:When each EFSA index component was analyzed separately, we found significant increased risks of CRC for non adherence to the guidelines on linoleic (OR=1.20, 95% CI, 1.07-1.36) and alpha-linolenic fatty acids (OR=1.19, 95% CI, 1.06-1.34). When all the guidelines were included in the same model, no significant association emerged. Compared with minimal adherence, the ORs of CRC for subsequent EFSA index scores were 1.03 (95% CI, 0.72-1.47), 1.05 (95% CI, 0.75-1.48), 1.04 (95% CI, 0.81-1.60), 0.99 (95% CI, 0.69-1.43), and 1.04 (95% CI, 0.67-1.61). No significant association emerged for colon and rectal cancer separately, and for males and females.Conclusions:Overall adherence to the EFSA dietary guidelines is not associated to colorectal, colon and rectal cancer risk in our population. Adherence to guidelines on linoleic and alpha-linolenic fatty acids may have a modest beneficial role on CRC risk. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.