Tefera Mekonnen

M.P.H.

The University of Adelaide

Ph.D. Student

PLCO (Learn more about this study)

PLCO-982

May 23, 2022

Ultraprocessed Food consumption and Dietary Antioxidant index and incident of Lung Cancer among adult population of US: Evidence from Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancers Trial

Epidemiological studies have shown that consumption of ultra-processed foods(UPFs) is associated with the obesity epidemic and chronic disease burden including cancer. A recent systematic review also highlighted consumption of this pro-inflammatory diet is responsible for all-cause mortality from NCDs. Evidence suggested that ultra-processed food consumption and the risk of cancer mortality may be partly linked to the obesogenic property of the food or carcinogenic natures of additives and neoformed contaminants during processing. Moreover, consumption UPFs have been criticized due to their dietary quality, low in anti-oxidant diversity, which primarily fights against chronic inflammations and oxidative stress. However, prospective studies on the association between UPFs consumption and the risk of cancer are very limited and inconsistent findings. A clear understanding of the mechanisms that explain the pathway on the risk of cancer development is warranted. Studies that investigate the potential mediation effect of factors (dietary quality, antioxidants) in the associations between UPFs intake and cancer risk are needed. Hence, the relationships between exposures to ultra-processed food consumption and dietary antioxidant index, and the risk of lung cancer among adults will be investigated using PLCO trial datasets. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards will be performed to determine associations of risk of lung cancer incidence, consumption of UPFs(percent of energy and nutrient density), and dietary antioxidant index. A dose-response analysis will also be done to see the directionality of relationships(nonlinearity).