For Black breast cancer survivors, higher consumption of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) seems to adversely affect breast cancer prognosis, according to a study published in the January issue of eClinicalMedicine.
Tengteng Wang, Ph.D., M.B.B.S., from Rutgers Cancer Institute in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and colleagues examined the UPF-mortality relationships among 1,733 Black women diagnosed with primary breast cancer in New Jersey between 2005 and 2019 who were participants of the Women’s Circle of Health Study and Women’s Circle of Health Follow-Up Study.
The researchers identified 394 total deaths (206 breast cancer-related) after a median of 9.3 years of follow-up since diagnosis. Compared with those in the lowest tertile (median, 2.6 servings/day), women in the highest tertile of UPF intake (median, 8.1 servings/day) had significantly higher breast cancer-specific mortality and all-cause mortality (hazard ratios [95 percent confidence intervals], 1.40 [1.00 to 1.96; P = 0.02] and 1.36 [1.06 to 1.74; P < 0.01], respectively). A J-shaped association of UPF intake with mortality outcome was seen in dose-response analyses, with lower risk at under four servings/day and higher risk at greater consumption. After additional adjustment for total energy intake, these associations were attenuated.
“Maybe it’s too complicated for breast cancer patients to think about how to reduce consumption of ultraprocessed foods in general,” Wang said in a statement. “But we find processed meat is the top worst contributor among all UPF subgroups. So maybe a more detailed takeaway is to avoid this one thing.”
One author disclosed ties to Pfizer.
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