Dietary inflammatory index and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer in African American women

Chronic inflammation has been implicated in the development of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC); yet the contribution of inflammatory foods and nutrients to EOC risk has been understudied. We investigated the association between the dietary inflammatory index (DII), a novel literature-derived tool to assess the inflammatory potential of one's diet, and EOC risk in African American (AA) women in the African American Cancer Epidemiology Study, the largest population-based case-control study of EOC in AA women to date. The energy-adjusted DII (E-DII) was computed per 1,000 kilocalories from dietary intake data collected through a food frequency questionnaire, which measured usual dietary intake in the year prior to diagnosis for cases or interview for controls. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using multivariable logistic regression for the association between the E-DII and EOC risk. 493 cases and 662 controls were included in the analyses. We observed a 10% increase in EOC risk per a one-unit change in the E-DII (OR=1.10, 95% CI=1.03-1.17). Similarly, women consuming the most pro-inflammatory diet had a statistically significant increased EOC risk in comparison to the most anti-inflammatory diet (ORQuartile4/Quartile1=1.72; 95% CI=1.18-2.51). We also observed effect modification by age (p<0.05), where a strong, significant association between the E-DII and EOC risk was observed among women older than 60 years, but no association was observed in women aged 60 years or younger. Our findings suggest that a more pro-inflammatory diet was associated with an increased EOC risk, especially among women older than 60 years. What's new? Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has been linked to chronic inflammation. Yet, the impact of an inflammatory diet on ovarian cancer risk is unclear. The authors used a literature-derived tool, the dietary inflammatory index, to examine the association between the inflammatory potential of one's diet and ovarian cancer risk among African American women. They found that a more pro-inflammatory diet was indeed associated with increased risk, especially among women who were more than 60 years old.