Organic food consumption and the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort.

AIM: To investigate the association between organic food consumption and the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: Among 41,286 cohort participants, aged 50-65 years, organic food consumption of vegetables, fruits, dairy products, eggs, meat, and cereal products, was summarized into an organic food score evaluated as never, low, medium and high consumption and as continuous intake. During follow-up, 4,843 cases were identified in the National Diabetes Register. Organic food consumption was associated to the disease incidence in Cox regression models. RESULTS: Organic food consumption was linearly associated with a lower incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (Women, HR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.89-1.00, Men, HR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.90-1.00). Organic food consumption frequency, compared to never consumption, showed HRs below 1.00 for both women (medium intake HR: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.84-1.10, high intake HR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.74-1.05) and men (low intake, HR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.85-1.05, medium intake, HR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.83-1.03, high intake, HR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.75-1.05) but were not statistically significant. Similar patterns were observed with consumption of the specific organic food groups for women, but not for men. CONCLUSIONS: Organic food consumption was associated with a suggested lower incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Food processing and cancer risk in Europe: results from the prospective EPIC cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Food processing has been hypothesised to play a role in cancer development; however, data from large-scale epidemiological studies are scarce. This study investigated the association between dietary intake according to amount of food processing and risk of cancer at 25 anatomical sites using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. METHODS: This study used data from the prospective EPIC cohort study, which recruited participants between March 18, 1991, and July 2, 2001, from 23 centres in ten European countries. Participant eligibility within each cohort was based on geographical or administrative boundaries. Participants were excluded if they had a cancer diagnosis before recruitment, had missing information for the NOVA food processing classification, or were within the top and bottom 1% for ratio of energy intake to energy requirement. Validated dietary questionnaires were used to obtain information on food and drink consumption. Participants with cancer were identified using cancer registries or during follow-up from a combination of sources, including cancer and pathology centres, health insurance records, and active follow-up of participants. We performed a substitution analysis to assess the effect of replacing 10% of processed foods and ultra-processed foods with 10% of minimally processed foods on cancer risk at 25 anatomical sites using Cox proportional hazard models. FINDINGS: 521 324 participants were recruited into EPIC, and 450 111 were included in this analysis (318 686 [70·8%] participants were female individuals and 131 425 [29·2%] were male individuals). In a multivariate model adjusted for sex, smoking, education, physical activity, height, and diabetes, a substitution of 10% of processed foods with an equal amount of minimally processed foods was associated with reduced risk of overall cancer (hazard ratio 0·96, 95% CI 0·95-0·97), head and neck cancers (0·80, 0·75-0·85), oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (0·57, 0·51-0·64), colon cancer (0·88, 0·85-0·92), rectal cancer (0·90, 0·85-0·94), hepatocellular carcinoma (0·77, 0·68-0·87), and postmenopausal breast cancer (0·93, 0·90-0·97). The substitution of 10% of ultra-processed foods with 10% of minimally processed foods was associated with a reduced risk of head and neck cancers (0·80, 0·74-0·88), colon cancer (0·93, 0·89-0·97), and hepatocellular carcinoma (0·73, 0·62-0·86). Most of these associations remained significant when models were additionally adjusted for BMI, alcohol and dietary intake, and quality. INTERPRETATION: This study suggests that the replacement of processed and ultra-processed foods and drinks with an equal amount of minimally processed foods might reduce the risk of various cancer types. FUNDING: Cancer Research UK, l'Institut National du Cancer, and World Cancer Research Fund International.

Organic food consumption and the incidence of cancer in the Danish diet, cancer and health cohort.

PURPOSE: Expected beneficial health effects is a major reason why people purchase organically produced foods, although the existing evidence is limited. We investigated if organic food consumption, overall and by specific food groups, is associated with the incidence of cancer. METHODS: We used data from the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort. Organic food consumption was reported for vegetables, fruits, dairy products, eggs, meat, and bread and cereal products. Consumption was summarized into an overall organic food score, evaluated as a continuous variable and in categories specified as never, low, medium, and high consumption. We followed 41,928 participants for a median of 15 years, during which 9,675 first cancer cases were identified in the Danish Cancer Registry. We used cox proportional hazard models adjusted for sociodemographic and lifestyle variables to estimate associations between organic food consumption and cancer incidence. RESULTS: No association was observed between intakes of organic foods and incidence of overall cancer. When compared to never eating organic foods, overall organic food consumption was associated with a lower incidence of stomach cancer (low: HR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.32-0.78, medium: HR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.32-0.80, high: HR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.27-1.07, p-trend = 0.09), and higher incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (low: HR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.01-2.10, medium: HR = 1.35, 95% CI: 0.93-1.96, high: HR = 1.97, 95% CI: 1.28-3.04, p-trend = 0.05). Similar patterns were observed for the specific food groups. CONCLUSION: Our study does not support an association between organic food consumption and incidence of overall cancer. The scarce existing literature shows conflicting results with risk of specific cancers.

Organic food consumption is associated with a healthy lifestyle, socio-demographics and dietary habits: a cross-sectional study based on the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort.

OBJECTIVE: To study the association between organic food consumption and lifestyle, socio-demographics and dietary habits. DESIGN: Cohort participants completed detailed questionnaires about organic food consumption, diet and lifestyle between 1999 and 2002. Polytomous logistic regression models were used to estimate the association between organic food consumption, and lifestyle, socio-demographics, and dietary habits. SETTING: This cross-sectional study uses data from the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 43 209 men and women aged between 54 and 73 years were included in the study. RESULTS: Overall, 15 % reported never consuming organic food, 39 % had low organic food consumption, 37 % had medium organic food consumption and 10 % had high organic food consumption. The relative risk of consuming organic food versus never consuming organic food was highest among women, persons with BMI < 25 kg/m2, persons with low alcohol intake, persons participating in sports, persons who did not smoke or were former smokers, and among persons who adhered to the Danish national dietary guidelines. Associations were more distinct with higher levels of organic food consumption. CONCLUSION: Based on a historical cohort of Danish adults, organic food consumption was associated with a generally healthy lifestyle, more favourable socio-demographics and dietary habits. These findings have to be considered in the adjustment strategy for future studies linking organic food consumption with health outcomes.

Intake of whole grain and associations with lifestyle and demographics: a cross-sectional study based on the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health-Next Generations cohort.

PURPOSE: The aim was to analyze the intake of whole grain (WG) and associations with lifestyle and demographics in a newly established cohort of Danish adults. METHODS: Between 2015 and 2019, Danes were enrolled into The Diet, Cancer and Health-Next Generations cohort. A total of 38,553 persons were included in the current cross-sectional study, where all completed a 376-item food frequency questionnaire, a lifestyle questionnaire, and a physical examination in a study center where physical measurements and biological samples were collected. RESULTS: The median intake of WG was 79 g/10 mega joule (MJ) and 54% of the participants consumed the amount of WG recommended in Denmark, which is 75 g/10 MJ. The probability of consuming the recommended amount of WG was highest among men, persons < 30 years, students, persons with body mass index (BMI) < 25 kg/m2, persons participating in sports, who did not exceed the recommended maximum intake of alcohol and did not smoke. The probability of having a low intake of WG defined as < 25 g/10 MJ was highest among persons with short education, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2, persons not participating in sports, persons having an alcohol intake above the recommended maximum level and persons being active smokers. CONCLUSION: The median intake of WG was 79 g/10 MJ. The probability of consuming at least 75 g WG/10 MJ was highest among persons who also adhered to healthy lifestyle measured by other factors. Only 6% of the cohort participants consumed < 25 g WG/10 MJ, these persons were more likely to have a general less healthy lifestyle.

Pre- and post-diagnostic intake of whole grain and dairy products and breast cancer prognosis: the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort.

PURPOSE: Fiber rich foods and dairy products have been suggested to be associated with breast cancer prognosis, though existing research is limited and either report on pre- or post-diagnostic dietary intake in relation to breast cancer prognosis. We investigated the associations between intake of whole grain (WG) and dairy products assessed both pre- and post-diagnostically in relation to breast cancer prognosis. METHODS: A total of 1965 women from the Diet, Cancer and Health cohort who were diagnosed with breast cancer between baseline (1993-1997) and December 2013 were included and followed for a median of 7 years after diagnosis. During follow-up, 309 women experienced breast cancer recurrence and 460 women died, of whom 301 died from breast cancer. Dietary assessment by food frequency questionnaires was obtained up to three times, pre- and post-diagnostic, over a period of 18 years. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios. RESULTS: No associations were observed between pre- or post-diagnostic intake of total WG or total dairy products and breast cancer prognosis. A high pre-diagnostic intake of oatmeal/muesli was associated with lower all-cause mortality (HR 0.76, 95% CI 0.59-0.99), whereas high post-diagnostic intake of rye bread was associated with higher breast cancer-specific mortality (HR 1.29, 95% CI 1.02-1.63). A generally high intake of cheese was associated with a higher recurrence rate. CONCLUSION: Pre-diagnostic intake of oatmeal/muesli was associated with lower all-cause mortality, and post-diagnostic intake of rye bread was associated with higher breast cancer specific mortality.