Western Dietary Pattern, But not Mediterranean Dietary Pattern, Increases the Risk of Prostate Cancer

Abstract

Background and aim: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men. Several studies have investigated the effects of dietary patterns on prostate cancer risk, but this topic is still a matter of debate. This study aimed to examine the association between dietary patterns and prostate cancer risk.

Methods: In a case-control study, 60 newly diagnosed prostate cancer cases and 60 hospital-based controls were selected from two main hospitals of Shiraz, Iran. Data on dietary intakes, anthropometric features, and demographic characteristics were collected. To determine the dietary patterns factor analysis, and to estimate the odds ratios (ORs), multivariable logistic regression was performed.

Results: Two major dietary patterns were identified: Western dietary (WD) pattern and Mediterranean dietary (MD) pattern. After adjusting for potential confounders, men who had higher scores for WD pattern (above the median) were more likely to have prostate cancer (OR = 5.15; 95% CI (1.44–18.47); P = 0.01) compared with men who had lower scores. A nonsignificant inverse association was found for MD pattern (OR = 0.62; 95% CI (0.22–1.77); P = 0.37).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that WD pattern may increase the risk of prostate cancer and the beneficial effects of MD pattern on prostate cancer risk need further research.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the participants for their kind cooperation.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Students Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (grant number 93-01-21-9059).