Meat intake and breast cancer risk from the Health Examinees study

Abstract

Background & aims

The association between meat intake and breast cancer risk remains unclear. This study examined the relationship between specific types of meat intake and breast cancer risk in a prospective cohort study.

Methods

This study included 71,264 women aged 40–69 years from the Health Examinees-Gem (HEXA-G) study (2004–2013). Cancer diagnosis was identified via the Korea Central Cancer Registry and death certificate-linked data were provided by the Korea National Statistical Office until 31 December 2018. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimated multivariate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for breast cancer risk by meat intake.

Results

During 655,566.9 person-years of follow-up, 713 breast cancer cases were identified. Women who consumed one or more servings of processed meat per week had a 57 % increased risk of breast cancer (HR = 1.57, 95 % CI: 1.09–2.27, p for trend = 0.003), compared to those who did not consume processed meat. Stronger associations were observed among women under 50 years of age (p for trend = 0.021), with no family history of breast cancer (p for trend = 0.001), no regular exercise (p for trend = 0.028), no alcohol consumption (p for trend = 0.002) and a body mass index (BMI) below 25 kg/m² (p for trend = 0.005). Beef intake was associated with a potential reduction in breast cancer risk (HR = 0.82, 95 % CI: 0.67–1.01, p trend = 0.051, for 2 or more servings per month vs. none). Also, reduction of breast cancer risk was observed in women who consumed alcohol (p for trend = 0.036). More pronounced associations were found in women without family history of breast cancer (p for trend = 0.049), and in women who did not engage in regular exercise (p for trend = 0.015).

Conclusions

Our results suggest that processed meat intake is linked to a higher risk of breast cancer, whereas beef consumption may reduce the risk of breast cancer.