Journal of Nutrition

Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Purchase Article
Right arrow View Shopping Cart
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fung, T. T.
Right arrow Articles by Holmes, M. D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Fung, T. T.
Right arrow Articles by Holmes, M. D.
© 2006 American Society for Nutrition J. Nutr. 136:466-472, February 2006


Nutritional Epidemiology

Diet Quality Is Associated with the Risk of Estrogen Receptor–Negative Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women1

Teresa T. Fung*,{dagger},2, Frank B. Hu{dagger},{dagger}{dagger},{ddagger}{ddagger}, Marjorie L. McCullough**, P. K. Newby{ddagger}, Walter C. Willett{dagger},{dagger}{dagger},{ddagger}{ddagger} and Michelle D. Holmes{ddagger}{ddagger}

* Department of Nutrition, Simmons College, Boston, MA; {dagger} Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA; ** Epidemiology and Surveillance Research, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA; {ddagger} Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA; {dagger}{dagger} Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA; and {ddagger}{ddagger} Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

2 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: fung{at}simmons.edu.


    ABSTRACT
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 SUBJECTS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 APPENDIX
 LITERATURE CITED
 
Emerging evidence suggests that diet quality indices may serve as prognostic indicators of disease. However, the ability of these indices to predict breast cancer risk has not been evaluated previously. We assessed the association between several diet quality scores and the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. The indices we used were the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), Diet Quality Index-Revised (DQI-R), Recommended Food Score (RFS), and the alternate Mediterranean Diet Score (aMed). We calculated diet quality indices from dietary information collected in FFQ administered 5 times between 1984 and 1998 among women in the Nurses' Health Study cohort. Relative risks (RR) were computed using Cox proportional hazards models and adjusted for known risk factors for breast cancer. Separate analyses were conducted for estrogen receptor positive (ER+) and negative (ER–) tumors. Between 1984 and 2002, we documented 3580 cases of breast cancer, of which 2367 were ER+, and 575 were ER–. We did not observe any association between the diet quality indices and total or ER+ breast cancer risk. However, for ER– breast cancer, after adjusting for potential confounders, the RR comparing highest to lowest quintiles were 0.78 (95% CI = 0.59–1.04, P for trend = 0.01) for the AHEI, 0.69 (95% CI = 0.51–0.94, P for trend = 0.003) for the RFS, and 0.79 (95% CI = 0.60–1.03, P for trend = 0.03) for the aMed. These observations appeared to be the result of an inverse association (P for trend = 0.01) with the vegetable component of the scores. We conclude that women who scored high in AHEI, RFS, and aMed had a lower risk of ER– breast cancer. The HEI and DQI-R appeared to be of limited value in predicting breast cancer risk.


KEY WORDS: • breast cancer • diet • nutrition • estrogen receptor

Several diet quality indices have been developed to evaluate the healthfulness of individual diets. These indices are usually based on established nutrient requirements and well-publicized dietary guidelines. However, diet indices have not been tested extensively in their ability to predict the risk of chronic diseases. Previous studies focused on diet quality in relation to total mortality or incidence of broad categories of diseases (13). A strategy that combines all cancers together may not provide full insight because both dietary risk factors and the strength of association often differ by cancer site. For breast cancer, there are few established dietary risk factors other than alcohol (4), indicating that individual dietary factors in adult life have weak if any effect on breast cancer risk. It is therefore worthwhile to examine whether overall diet patterns affect risk, perhaps through additive or interactive effects of dietary behaviors not captured in studies of single nutrients.

We examined prospectively the association between several diet quality indices and the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. The scores used in this study were Healthy Eating Index (HEI),3 Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), Diet Quality Index-Revised (DQIR), Recommended Food Score (RFS), and the alternate Mediterranean Diet Score (aMed). We also considered breast cancer tumors according to estrogen receptor (ER) status because evidence suggests that risk may vary by ER status (5).


    SUBJECTS AND METHODS
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 SUBJECTS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 APPENDIX
 LITERATURE CITED
 
    Study population. The Nurses' Health Study (NHS) began in 1976 when 121,700 female nurses aged 30–55 y living in 11 U.S. states responded to a questionnaire regarding medical, lifestyle, and other health-related information (6). Since 1976, questionnaires have been sent biennially to update exposures and disease outcome status. Follow-up was complete for >95% of the potential person time up to 2002. In 1980, the participants completed a 61-item FFQ. In 1984, the FFQ was expanded to 116 items. Similar FFQ were sent to the women in 1986, 1990, 1994, and 1998. We considered 1984 as baseline for this analysis because the expanded number of food items on the longer questionnaire was critical in calculating diet quality scores. The NHS is approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA.

For the present analysis, women were included if they completed the 1984 FFQ with <70 missing items and had a total energy intake range (as calculated from the FFQ) between 2060 and 14420 kJ/d (500 and 3500 kcal/d). Women with a history of cancer, except for nonmelanoma skin cancers, were excluded. Thus, we included 71,058 women in this analysis with follow-up for up to 18 y, from 1984 to 2002.

    Assessment of dietary intake. Dietary intake information was collected by FFQ designed to assess average food intake over the previous year. A standard portion size was given for each food item. Cohort members were asked to choose from 9 possible frequency of consumption responses, ranging from "never" to "more than 6 times a day" for each food. Total energy intake was calculated by summing the energy intake from all foods. For this analysis, we used information from the FFQ administered in 1984, 1986, 1990, 1994, and 1998. Previous validation studies among members of the NHS cohort revealed good correlations between nutrients assessed by the FFQ and multiple weeks of food records completed over the previous year (7). For example, correlation coefficients between the 1986 FFQ and diet records obtained in 1986 were 0.68 for saturated fat, 0.76 for vitamin C, and 0.73 for dietary cholesterol. The mean correlation coefficient between frequencies of intake of 55 foods from 2 FFQ 12 mo apart was 0.57 (8).

Scoring criteria for each diet quality index were described in detail elsewhere. A brief description is presented in the Appendix. For each index, a higher score represents a more healthful diet. Calculation of the HEI was based on criteria set in The Healthy Eating Index Final Report and adapted to this cohort by McCullough et al. (2,9). Briefly, the HEI contains 10 components consisting of grains, vegetables, fruit, milk, meat, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and diet variety. These criteria reflect recommendations based on the USDA Food Guide Pyramid (10) and the 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (11). Possible scores from each component ranged from 0 to 10, depending on level of intake, with a possible total score of 100 for the HEI. The AHEI scoring criteria (12) differed from those of the original HEI; it addressed quality within food groups by removing potatoes from vegetables, and including fruit, nuts and soy, white/red meat ratio, trans fat and the polyunsaturated:saturated fat ratio, cereal fiber, and adding long-term multivitamin use, and alcohol intake. The possible score for the multivitamin component was either 2.5 or 7.5 to avoid overweighting. The AHEI was based on 9 items, with a maximum possible score of 87.5.

The RFS was developed by Kant et al. (1) and adapted by McCullough et al. (12) for our FFQ. The RFS focused on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats or meat alternates, and low-fat dairy products. Participants received 1 point for each recommended food consumed at least weekly. Based on the length of our FFQ, the maximum possible scores were 49–56, depending on the version of the FFQ.

The DQIR score was based on methods developed by Haines et al. (13). and adapted for our FFQ by Newby et al. (14). Briefly, the DQIR consists of 10 components that measure intake of several food groups and nutrients as well as diet diversity and moderation. These components included grains, vegetables, fruit, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, iron, calcium, diet diversity, and moderation in added fat and sugar. The range of possible scores for each component was 0–10 points, depending on the level of intake; the maximum possible DQIR score was 100 points.

The aMed score was based on a Mediterranean diet scale by Trichopoulou et al. (15,16). The original score was based on the intake of 9 items: vegetables, legumes, fruits and nuts, dairy, cereals, meat and meat products, fish, alcohol, and the monounsaturated:saturated fat ratio. Participants with intake above the median intake received 1 point; otherwise they received 0 points. Meat and dairy product consumption below the median received 1 point. We modified the original scale by excluding potato products from the vegetable group, separating fruits and nuts into 2 groups, eliminating the dairy group, including whole-grain products only, including only red and processed meats for the meat group, and assigning 1 point for alcohol intake between 5 and 15 g/d. These modifications were based on dietary patterns and eating behaviors that have been consistently associated with lower risks of chronic disease in clinical and epidemiological studies. The score range for the aMed was 0–9.

    Case ascertainment. For this analysis, we used incident breast cancers obtained by self-report in the biennial questionnaire post-1984 to 2002. Permission was then obtained to review medical records for confirmation for all self-reported cases; 99% of self-reported cases were confirmed by medical records. We also included 1% of cases confirmed by the participants. Estrogen and progesterone receptor status was obtained from pathology reports and each receptor was classified as positive, negative, or uncertain. Deaths were reported by the postal service, family members, or by searching the National Death Index. In this study, we included only postmenopausal breast cancer cases to reduce potential etiologic heterogeneity.

    Statistical analysis. To reduce random within-person variation and best represent long-term dietary intake, we calculated cumulative averages of diet quality scores from each of the FFQ. For example, scores in 1984 were used to predict breast cancer occurrence from 1984 to 1986, and the average of 1984 and 1986 intake was used to model cancer risk in 1986–1988, and so on (17). We also used baseline (1984) diet as a predictor of breast cancer risk to assess the influence of long-term diet.

We used the Cox proportional hazards model to assess associations between dietary quality scores and the risk of breast cancer between 1984 and 2002. The regression analyses were adjusted for age, smoking status (never, past, current smoker up to 14 cigarettes/d, 15–24 cigarettes/d, 25+ cigarettes/d), BMI (5 categories), multivitamin (yes/no), energy intake (quintiles), physical activity in metabolic equivalent (MET) h/wk (quintiles), family history of breast cancer (yes/no), personal history of benign breast disease (yes/no), age at menopause, and use of postmenopausal hormone therapy (13 categories), BMI at age 18 (4 categories), and weight change since age 18 y (7 categories). Alcohol intake (4 categories) was adjusted in the analysis of HEI, DQIR, and RFS, but not in the AHEI or aMed scores because alcohol is one of the components of these indices. We also classified breast cancer by the ER status of the tumors. In stratified analysis, we censored women when they were diagnosed with breast cancer with ER status that was not the outcome of the particular analysis. For example, in analysis of ER+ tumors, we censored women when they were diagnosed with ER– tumors. We did not present data on progesterone receptor status because it did not affect the diet-breast cancer relation.


    RESULTS
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 SUBJECTS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 APPENDIX
 LITERATURE CITED
 
During 18 y of follow-up, we ascertained 3580 cases of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Of these, 2367 were ER+ and 575 were ER–; the remainder (638 cases) could not be clearly classified. In this cohort, women who scored high on these indices were less likely to be smokers, had a higher level of physical activity, and were more likely to use postmenopausal hormones (Table 1).


View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
TABLE 1 Age standardized baseline (1984) lifestyle characteristics according to quintiles of diet quality index scores

 
When we considered all postmenopausal breast cancer cases, we did not find any association with any of the diet quality indices (Table 2). However, when we analyzed ER+ and ER– cases separately, we found an inverse association between AHEI, RFS, and aMed and ER– cases (Table 3). After adjusting for potential confounders, the relative risks (RR) comparing top and bottom quintiles of these scores were 0.78 (95% CI = 0.59–1.04, P for trend = 0.01) for AHEI, 0.69 (95% CI = 0.51–0.94, P for trend = 0.003) for RFS, 0.79 (95% CI = 0.60–1.03, P for trend = 0.03) for aMed. Of these 3 indices, RFS had the strongest association with ER– tumors. When AHEI, RFS, and aMed were included in the same regression model, the relative risks (RR) comparing top and bottom quintiles of these scores were 0.83 (95% CI = 0.54–1.26, P for trend = 0.31) for AHEI, 0.78 (95% CI = 0.53–1.14, P for trend = 0.06) for RFS, and 1.04 (95% CI = 0.67–1.66, P for trend = 0.71) for aMed. There was no association with ER+ cases for these scores. The HEI and DQI-R were not associated with ER status. The RR of ER+ and ER– tumors did not differ for any of the diet quality scores. We conducted an additional analysis using baseline (1984 diet) and found essentially the same results. In an alternate approach to compare the indices, we assessed the risk for ER– breast cancer for a 10% increase in each of the scores. There was no association with HEI (RR = 0.96, P = 0.36) or DQIR (RR = 0.95, P = 0.23). However, for each 10% increase in AHEI, there was an 11% reduction of risk (P = 0.01), for RFS a 12% reduction (P = 0.002), and for aMed a 7% reduction (P = 0.02) (not shown). Because AHEI and aMed awarded points for alcohol intake of 1–2 drinks/d, we additionally adjusted for alcohol intake in secondary analysis and obtained essentially the same results.


View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
TABLE 2 Relative risks (95% CI) of postmenopausal breast cancer risk by quintiles of diet quality scores

 

View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
TABLE 3 Relative risks (95% CI) of postmenopausal breast cancer risk by quintiles of diet quality scores, according to tumor ER status1

 
When we examined the association between the components of AHEI and aMed and their association with ER– breast cancer, we found that a high score on the vegetable component in AHEI (RR comparing top to bottom quintile = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.51, 0.91, P for trend = 0.01) was associated with a lower risk. An inverse association was also observed with comparably higher intakes of unsaturated fats than saturated fats for the AHEI. The RR comparing top to bottom quintile of the polyunsaturated:saturated fat intake ratio was 0.75 (95% CI = 0.58, 0.98, P for trend = 0.02) (Table 4). Similarly, for the aMed index, the RR comparing top to bottom quintile of the monounsaturated:saturated fat intake ratio was 0.79 (95% CI = 0.63, 0.99, P for trend = 0.04). There was also a suggestion of inverse association with higher score (thus higher intake) of fruits for the AHEI. Alcohol intake, in the range of 1–2 drinks/d (intake of this range was awarded a higher score in AHEI and aMed) did not appear to influence the risk of ER– breast cancer.


View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
TABLE 4 Multivariate relative risks (95% CI) of postmenopausal ER– breast cancer risk by quintiles of component score of Alternate Healthy Eating Index1

 
Because vegetables are major contributors to the RFS, we further analyzed subtypes of vegetables and risk of ER– tumors. We observed an inverse association with yellow/orange vegetables, with an RR of 0.76 comparing 1+/d intake vs. <2/wk (95% CI = 0.57, 0.99, P for trend = 0.04) (Table 5). Similarly, RR for "other" vegetables (vegetables that do not fit into the categories specified, such as eggplant, green peppers, and celery) was 0.67 (95% CI = 0.53, 0.87, P for trend = 0.03). Although there was no significant inverse trend with leafy vegetable intake, the RR was 0.72 (95% CI = 0.54, 0.96) for consumption frequency of 5–6/wk and 0.71 (95% CI = 0.55, 0.90) for 1+/d, compared with <2 times/wk consumption. Because intakes of different types of vegetables are correlated, we attempted to tease out the independent association of these vegetable types with ER– breast cancer by including all vegetables types in the regression model. In general, the inverse associations were somewhat attenuated and P-values for trend were no longer significant. However, daily intake of at least 1 serving of "other" vegetables, compared with <2 times/wk, remained inversely associated with ER– tumors (RR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.54, 0.99).


View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
TABLE 5 Multivariate RR (95% CI) of consumption of vegetable types for ER– breast cancer1

 

    DISCUSSION
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 SUBJECTS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 APPENDIX
 LITERATURE CITED
 
In this study, only the AHEI, RFS and aMed scores were inversely associated with ER– breast cancer. There was no association between the risk of ER+ breast cancer and any of the diet quality scores after multivariate adjustment.

Although numerous studies have examined the association between foods and nutrients and breast cancer risk, very few have focused on the entire diet, and none to our knowledge have used established diet quality indices as predictors of risk. In addition, subtypes of breast cancer have generally not been analyzed separately. Risk factors for breast cancer may differ according to the ER status of the tumor (5,18). Estrogen exposure is one of the strongest risk factors for breast cancer, but it may have less influence on ER– tumors than ER+ tumors. This is supported by results of chemoprevention trials on ER modulators in which the reduction of incidence was observed for ER+ tumors only (19,20). Therefore, in ER+ tumors, any potential influence of dietary factors may be difficult to detect given the strong influence of hormonal factors. Conversely, in ER– tumors, other risk factors, including diet, may exert a relatively larger influence and be more easily detectable.

The HEI, AHEI, and RFS did not predict combined cancer risk from all sites in our cohort (2). However, ER– breast cancer was only a small portion of all cancers diagnosed in our cohort; therefore, the lack of association with overall cancer risk is not inconsistent with our findings. In a cohort of Swedish women, those whose RFS score was in the highest quintile had a 24% lower risk (P for trend = 0.005) of overall cancer mortality than those with scores in the bottom quintile (3). On the other hand, the Mediterranean Diet Score (on which ours was based), was inversely associated with overall cancer mortality (15). Empirically derived dietary patterns using factor analysis identified a "prudent" pattern that has characteristics similar to the AHEI and aMed (21,22). This pattern was not associated with overall breast cancer risk in one study (22); however, when ER types were analyzed separately, an inverse association was observed with ER– cancer (23).

The ability of diet quality scores to predict breast cancer risk depends on how well these scores measure dietary risk factors for breast cancer. The most consistent dietary risk factor for breast cancer is alcohol (4), and folate is a possible modifier in this relation (24). Fruits and vegetables, the major sources of folate were inversely associated with overall breast cancer in a case-control study (25), but this association was mainly null in cohort studies (26,27). However, such studies generally did not distinguish between ER subtypes. When tumors of different ER status were analyzed separately, an inverse association was observed with ER– tumors in one cohort (28). In a recent study from our group, each serving of vegetables intake was associated with a 6% reduction in ER– breast cancer and each serving of fruit was associated with a 12% reduction, whereas no association was observed for ER+ tumors (23). In addition, a dietary pattern consisting of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and poultry was also associated with a lower risk of ER– tumors compared with diets low in those foods. Fat intake after menopause has little association with breast cancer risk (29), but premenopausal fat intake from red meats and dairy products may be associated with breast cancer in premenopausal women (30). All diet quality scores include fruits and vegetables, but they contribute only 10–20% of the total score except for the RFS to which they contribute ~80% of the total score. In addition, the AHEI also awards points for multivitamin intake, which usually contains a substantial amount of folic acid.

The RFS, which had the strongest inverse relation with ER– tumors, does not include alcohol. The AHEI and aMed consider moderate alcohol intake to be a beneficial component of the diet given its association with lower cardiovascular disease risk (31); thus, it may not be optimal to use it as a recommendation for breast cancer prevention. Because both the AHEI and aMed indices are inversely associated with ER– breast cancer, moderate alcohol intake may not overwhelm the beneficial influence of other dietary components.

Because cancer development is usually slow, the long follow-up period in this study and the availability of dietary information over multiple years increase the possibility that we can capture important periods during which diet may exert an influence on breast cancer risk in adults. Our analysis was adjusted extensively for potential confounders. Although we did not observe an association with ER+ tumors, this does not exclude the possibility that diet earlier in life may have an influence on the development of ER+ tumors.

As illustrated in Table 2, the distribution of cases in each the quintile of the various scores varied; this is expected given the different criteria for what constitutes a healthy diet in these scores. Thus, we are comparing different constructs, and populations will score higher or lower on various indices, depending on the components of the score and the underlying consumption of those dietary components in a population. We thought it was most objective to compare associations based on distribution within each score (e.g., quintiles).

In conclusion, our findings suggest that ER– breast cancer tumors may be more strongly associated with diet than ER+ tumors. We found that high scores for the AHEI, RFS, and aMed were associated with a lower risk of ER– breast cancer, whereas the HEI and DQI-R were of limited value in predicting breast cancer risk. The dietary patterns reflected by these scores may serve as possible guidelines for cancer prevention, especially for ER– breast cancer in postmenopausal women.


    APPENDIX
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 SUBJECTS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 APPENDIX
 LITERATURE CITED
 

Components of diet quality scores


Score


Components

Healthy Eating Index Grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, meat, total fat (% energy), saturated fat (% energy), cholesterol, sodium, diet variety.
Alternate Healthy Eating Index Vegetables, fruits, nuts and soy, cereal fiber, ratio of white to red meat, trans fat (% energy), polyunsaturated:saturated fat ratio, alcohol, duration of vitamin use.
Diet Quality Index-Revised Grains, vegetables, fruits, total fat (% energy), saturated fat (% energy), cholesterol, iron, calcium, diet diversity, diet moderation
Recommended Food Score Specific items of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low saturated fat proteins, low-fat dairy products
Alternate Mediterranean Diet Score

Vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, whole grains, low intake of red and processed meats, alcohol, fish, monounsaturated:saturated fat ratio


    FOOTNOTES
 
1 Funded by National Institutes of Health grants CA87969 and CA095589. Back

3 Abbreviations used: aMed, Alternate Mediterranean Diet Index; AHEI, Alternate Healthy Eating Index; DQI-R, Diet Quality Index- Revised; ER, estrogen receptor; HEI, Healthy Eating Index; MET, metabolic equivalent; NHS, Nurses' Health Study; RFS, Recommended Food Score; RR, relative risk. Back

Manuscript received 24 August 2005. Initial review completed 27 September 2005. Revision accepted 22 November 2005.


    LITERATURE CITED
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 SUBJECTS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 APPENDIX
 LITERATURE CITED
 

1. Kant AK, Schatzkin A, Graubard B, Schairer C. A prospective study of diet quality and mortality in women. JAMA. 2000;283:2109–15.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

2. McCullough ML, Feskanich D, Stampfer MJ, Rosner BA, Hu FB, Hunter DJ, Variyam JN, Colditz GA, Willett WC. Adherence to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and risk of major chronic disease in women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;72:1214–22.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

3. Michels KB, Wolk A. A prospective study of variety of healthy foods and mortality in women. Int J Epidemiol. 2002;31:847–54.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

4. Smith-Warner SA, Spiegelman D, Yaun S, van den Brandt PA, Folsom AR, Goldbohm RA, Grahm S, Holmberg L, Howe G, et al. Alcohol and breast cancer in women: a pooled analysis of cohort studies. JAMA. 1998;279:535–40.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

5. Colditz GA, Rosner BA, Chen WY, Holmes MD, Hankinson SE. Risk factors for breast cancer according to estrogen and progesterone receptor status. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2004;96:218–28.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

6. Colditz GA, Martin P, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Sampson L, Rosner BA, Hennekens CH, Speizer FE. Validation of questionnaire information on risk factors and disease outcomes in a prospective cohort of women. Am J Epidemiol. 1986;123:894–900.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

7. Willett WC. Nutritional epidemiology. New York: Oxford University Press; 1998.

8. Salvini S, Hunter DJ, Sampson L, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA, Rosner BA, Willett WC. Food-based validation of a dietary questionnaire: the effects of week-to-week variation in food consumption. Int J Epidemiol. 1989;18:858–67.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

9. Kennedy E, Ohls J, Carlson S, Fleming K. The Healthy Eating Index final report. Food and Nutrition Service, US Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC; 1994.

10. U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Food Guide Pyramid. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office; 1992.

11. U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Nutrition and your health: dietary guidelines for Americans. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office; 1995.

12. McCullough ML, Feskanich D, Stampfer MJ, Giovannucci EL, Rimm EB, Hu FB, Spiegelman D, Colditz GA, Hunter DJ, Willett WC. Diet quality and major chronic disease risk in men and women: moving toward improved dietary guidance. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002;76:1261–71.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

13. Haines PS, Siega-Riz AM, Popkin BM. The Diet Quality Index Revised: a measurement instrument for populations. J Am Diet Assoc. 1999;99:697–704.[Medline]

14. Newby PK, Hu FB, Smith-Warner SA, Feskanich D, Sampson L, Willett WC. Reproducibility and validity of the Diet Quality Index Revised as assessed by use of a food-frequency questionnaire. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003;78:941–9.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

15. Trichopoulou A, Costacou T, Bamia C, Trichopoulos D. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet and survival in a Greek population. N Engl J Med. 2003;348:2599–608.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

16. Trichopoulou A, Kouris-Blazos A, Wahlquist ML, Gnardellis C, Lagiou P, Polychronopolous E, Vassilakou T, Lipworth T, Trichopoulos D. Diet and overall survival in elderly people. BMJ. 1995;311:1457–60.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

17. Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Rimm E, Ascherio A, Rosner BA, Spiegelman D, Willett WC. Dietary fat and coronary heart disease: a comparison of approaches for adjusting for total energy intake and modeling repeated dietary measurements. Am J Epidemiol. 1999;149:531–40.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

18. Kushi LH, Potter JD, Bostick RM, Drinkard CR, Sellers TA, Gapstur SM, Cerhan JR. Dietary fat and risk of breast cancer according to hormone receptor status. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1995;4:11–9.[Abstract]

19. Cummings S, Eckert S, Krueger KA, Grady D, Powles TJ, Cauley JA, Norton L, Nickelsen T, Bjarnason NH, et al. The Effect of Raloxifene on Risk of Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women: Results From the MORE Randomized Trial. JAMA. 1999;281:2189–97.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

20. Cuzick J, Forbes J, Edwards R, Baum M, Cawthorn S, Coates A, Hamed A, Howell A, Powles T; IBIS investigators. First results from the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study (IBIS-I): a randomised prevention trial. Lancet. 2002;360:817–24.[Medline]

21. Fung TT, Fuchs C, Giovannucci E, Hunter DJ, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA, Willett WC. Major dietary patterns and the risk of colorectal cancer in women. Arch Intern Med. 2003;163:309–14.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

22. Terry P, Suzuki R, Hu FB, Wolk A. Prospective study of major dietary patterns and the risk of breast cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2001;10:1281–5.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

23. Fung T, Hu FB, Holmes MD, Rosner B, Hunter DJ, Colditz GA, Willett WC. Dietary patterns and the risk of post-menopausal breast cancer. Int J Cancer. 2005;116:116–121.[Medline]

24. Zhang S, Hunter DJ, Hankinson SE, Giovannucci EL, Rosner BA, Colditz GA, Speizer FE, Willett WC. A prospective study of folate intake and the risk of breast cancer. JAMA. 1999;281:1632–7.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

25. Trichopoulou A, Katsouyanni K, Stover S, Gnardellis C, Rimm E, Trichopoulos D. Consumption of olive oil and specific food groups in relation to breast cancer risk in Greece. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1995;87:110–6.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

26. Smith-Warner SA, Spiegelman D, Yaun S, Adami HO, Beeson WL, van den Brandt PA, Folsom AR, Fraser GE, Freudenheim JL, et al. Intake of fruits and vegetables and risk of breast cancer: a pooled analysis of cohort studies. JAMA. 2001;285:769–76.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

27. van Gils CH, Peeters PHM, Boshuizen HC, Lahmann PH, Clavel-Chapelon F, Thiebaut A, Kesse E, Sieri S, Palli D, et al. Consumption of vegetables and fruits and risk of breast cancer. JAMA. 2005;293:183–93.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

28. Olsen A, Tjonneland A, Thomsen BL, Loft S, Stripp C, Overvad K, Moller S, Olsen JH. Fruits and vegetables intake differentially affects estrogen receptor negative and positive breast cancer rates. J Nutr. 2003;133:2342–7.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

29. Smith-Warner SA, Spiegelman D, Adami HO, Beeson WL, van den Brandt PA, Folsom AR, Fraser GE, Freudenheim JL, Goldbohm RA, et al. Types of dietary fat and breast cancer: a pooled analysis of cohort studies. Int J Cancer. 2001;92:767–74.[Medline]

30. Cho E, Spiegelman D, Hunter DJ, Chen WY, Zhang SM, Colditz GA, Willett WC. Premenopausal intakes of vitamins A, C, and E, folate, and carotenoids, and risk of breast cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2003;12:713–20.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

31. Gronbaek M. Alcohol, type of alcohol, and all-cause and coronary heart disease mortality. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2002;957:16–20.[Medline]




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
Am J EpidemiolHome page
J. Reedy, P. N. Mitrou, S. M. Krebs-Smith, E. Wirfalt, A. Flood, V. Kipnis, M. Leitzmann, T. Mouw, A. Hollenbeck, A. Schatzkin, et al.
Index-based Dietary Patterns and Risk of Colorectal Cancer: The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study
Am. J. Epidemiol., July 1, 2008; 168(1): 38 - 48.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Am. J. Clin. Nutr.Home page
X. Gao, H. Chen, T. T Fung, G. Logroscino, M. A Schwarzschild, F. B Hu, and A. Ascherio
Prospective study of dietary pattern and risk of Parkinson disease
Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, November 1, 2007; 86(5): 1486 - 1494.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Diabetes CareHome page
T. T. Fung, M. McCullough, R. M. van Dam, and F. B. Hu
A Prospective Study of Overall Diet Quality and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Women
Diabetes Care, July 1, 2007; 30(7): 1753 - 1757.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev.Home page
W. C. Willett and F. B. Hu
Not the Time to Abandon the Food Frequency Questionnaire: Point
Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., October 1, 2006; 15(10): 1757 - 1758.
[Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
CirculationHome page
S. E. Chiuve, M. L. McCullough, F. M. Sacks, and E. B. Rimm
Healthy Lifestyle Factors in the Primary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease Among Men: Benefits Among Users and Nonusers of Lipid-Lowering and Antihypertensive Medications
Circulation, July 11, 2006; 114(2): 160 - 167.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Purchase Article
Right arrow View Shopping Cart
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fung, T. T.
Right arrow Articles by Holmes, M. D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Fung, T. T.
Right arrow Articles by Holmes, M. D.


Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Copyright © 2006 by American Society for Nutrition