Abstract
Background: The role of dietary quality indexes for predicting breast cancer (BrCa) risk remains inconclusive. We aimed to assess the relation between healthy eating index 2010 (HEI-2010) and BrCa risk in a case-control study in Iranian women.
Method: The 272 hospitalized controls and 136 newly diagnosed BrCa cases were recruited from two major hospitals. Food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) data were then utilized to calculate the HEI-2010 scores. Logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) between tertiles of HEI-2010 and BrCa risk, adjusting for potential confounders.
Results: We found that higher HEI-2010 scores were associated with lower risk of BrCa only among premenopausal women (multivariate adjusted OR= 0.27, 95% [CI]: 0.10–0.69; P for trend =0.02). However, this inverse association was not the results of a link with any specific component of the HEI-2010. Among postmenopausal women, lower intake from empty calories was associated with lower risk of BrCa by 13% (OR =0.87, 95% CI: 0.77–0.99).
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that adherence to HEI-2010 might be associated with lower risk of BrCa only among premenopausal women.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all field investigators, staffs, and participants of the current study.
Disclosure Statement
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.