Lifestyle changes in middle age and risk of cancer: evidence from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

In this study, we aimed to provide novel evidence on the impact of changing lifestyle habits on cancer risk. In the EPIC cohort, 295,865 middle-aged participants returned a lifestyle questionnaire at baseline and during follow-up. At both timepoints, we calculated a healthy lifestyle index (HLI) score based on cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index and physical activity. HLI ranged from 0 (most unfavourable) to 16 (most favourable). We estimated the association between HLI change and risk of lifestyle-related cancers-including cancer of the breast, lung, colorectum, stomach, liver, cervix, oesophagus, bladder, and others-using Cox regression models. We reported hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Median time between the two questionnaires was 5.7 years, median age at follow-up questionnaire was 59 years. After the follow-up questionnaire, we observed 14,933 lifestyle-related cancers over a median follow-up of 7.8 years. Each unit increase in the HLI score was associated with 4% lower risk of lifestyle-related cancers (HR 0.96; 95%CI 0.95-0.97). Among participants in the top HLI third at baseline (HLI > 11), those in the bottom third at follow-up (HLI ≤ 9) had 21% higher risk of lifestyle-related cancers (HR 1.21; 95%CI 1.07-1.37) than those remaining in the top third. Among participants in the bottom HLI third at baseline, those in the top third at follow-up had 25% lower risk of lifestyle-related cancers (HR 0.75; 95%CI 0.65-0.86) than those remaining in the bottom third. These results indicate that lifestyle changes in middle age may have a significant impact on cancer risk.

Coffee Consumption and Whole-Blood Gene Expression in the Norwegian Women and Cancer Post-Genome Cohort.

Norwegians are the second highest consumers of coffee in the world. Lately, several studies have suggested that beneficial health effects are associated with coffee consumption. By analyzing whole-blood derived, microarray based mRNA gene expression data from 958 cancer-free women from the Norwegian Women and Cancer Post-Genome Cohort, we assessed the potential associations between coffee consumption and gene expression profiles and elucidated functional interpretation. Of the 958 women included, 132 were considered low coffee consumers (<1 cup of coffee/day), 422 moderate coffee consumers (1⁻3 cups of coffee/day), and 404 were high coffee consumers (>3 cups of coffee/day). At a false discovery rate <0.05, 139 genes were differentially expressed between high and low consumers of coffee. A subgroup of 298 nonsmoking, low tea consumers was established to isolate the effects of coffee from smoking and potential caffeine containing tea consumption. In this subgroup, 297 genes were found to be differentially expressed between high and low coffee consumers. Results indicate differentially expressed genes between high and low consumers of coffee with functional interpretations pointing towards a possible influence on metabolic pathways and inflammation.