Dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer

January 01, 0001

Dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer

These Chinese and US authors examined the association between dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer by conducting a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies published through January 2011. They included prospective cohort studies that reported RRs with 95% CIs for the association between dietary fiber intake and breast cancer risk. Both fixed- and random- effects models were used to calculate the summary risk estimates.

They found: "We identified 10 prospective cohort studies of dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer involving 16,848 cases and 712,195 participants. The combined RR of breast cancer for the highest compared with the lowest dietary fiber intake was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.83, 0.96), and little evidence of heterogeneity was observed. The association between dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer did not significantly differ by geographic region, length of follow-up, or menopausal status of the participants. Omission of any single study had little effect on the combined risk estimate. Dose-response analysis showed that every 10-g/d increment in dietary fiber intake was associated with a significant 7% reduction in breast cancer risk. Little evidence of publication bias was found."

The authors concluded: "This meta-analysis provides evidence of a significant inverse dose-response association between dietary fiber intake and breast cancer risk."

This dietary relationship may be involved in geographic differences around the world.


For the full abstract, click here.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 94(3):900-905, September 2011 © 2011 American Society for Nutrition
Dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer: a meta- analysis of prospective cohort studies. Jia-Yi Dong, Ka He, Peiyu Wang, and Li-Qiang Qin. Correspondence to Dr. Dong: [email protected]

Category: X. Female Genital System, Breast, T. Endocrine/Metabolic/Nutritional. Keywords: breast cancer, dietary fiber, meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Linda French, Toledo, Ohio. Posted on Global Family Doctor 20 September 2011

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.

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