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Higher baseline dietary fat and fatty acid intake is associated with increased risk of incident prostate cancer in the SABOR study

Abstract

Background

To study the association of nutrient intake measured by baseline food frequency questionnaire and risk of subsequent prostate cancer (PCa) in the SABOR (San Antonio Biomarkers of Risk) cohort study.

Methods

After IRB approval, more than 1903 men enrolled in a prospective cohort from 2000 to 2010 as part of the SABOR clinical validation site for the National Cancer Institute Early Detection Research Network. Food and nutrient intakes were calculated using a Food Frequency Questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards modeling and covariate-balanced propensity scores were used to assess the associations between all nutrients and PCa.

Results

A total of 229 men were diagnosed with PCa by prostate biopsy. Among all nutrients, increased risk of PCa was associated with intake of dietary fat scaled by the total caloric intake, particularly saturated fatty acid (SFA) [HR 1.19; 95% CI, 1.07–1.32), P value < 0.001, False discovery rate (FDR) 0.047] and trans fatty acid (TFA) [HR per quintile 1.21; (95% CI) (1.08–1.35), P < 0.001, FDR 0.039]. There was an increased risk of PCa with increasing intake of monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) (HR per quintile 1.14; 95% CI 1.03–1.27, P = 0.01, FDR 0.15) and cholesterol [HR per quintile 1.13; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) (1.02–1.26), P-value 0.02, FDR 0.19].

Conclusion

After examining a large, population-based cohort for PCa diagnosis, we identified dietary total fat and certain fatty acids as associated with increased risk of PCa. We found no factors that were protective from PCa. Dietary modification of fatty acid intake may reduce risk of PCa.

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Acknowledgements

This work was sponsored in part by grants from the National Institute of Health: U01 CA86402, and P30 CA0541474. JG was also supported by NIH grant GM07033. This work was also supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs through the Prostate Cancer Research Program under Award No. W81XWH-15-1-0441. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense. Nutrition assessment shared resource at Fred Hutch utilized funds from NIH/NCI award number P30 CA015704.

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Correspondence to Michael A. Liss.

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Liss, M.A., Al-Bayati, O., Gelfond, J. et al. Higher baseline dietary fat and fatty acid intake is associated with increased risk of incident prostate cancer in the SABOR study. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 22, 244–251 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41391-018-0105-2

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