Dietary Carbohydrate, Fiber and Sugar and Risk of Breast Cancer According to Menopausal Status in Malaysia

Background: Dietary carbohydrate, fiber and sugar intake has been shown to play a role in the etiology ofbreast cancer, but the findings have been inconsistent and limited to developed countries with higher cancerincidence.
Objective: To examine the association of premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer risk withdietary carbohydrate, fiber and sugar intake. Materials and
Methods: This population based case-control studywas conducted in Malaysia with 382 breast cancer patients and 382 controls. Food intake pattern was assessed viaan interviewer-administered food frequency questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to compute odds ratios(OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and a broad range of potential confounders were included in analysis.
Results: A significant two fold increased risk of breast cancer among premenopausal (OR Q4 to Q1=1.93, 95%CI:1.53-2.61, p-trend=0.001) and postmenopausal (OR Q4 to Q1=1.87, 95%CI: 1.03-2.61, p-trend=0.045) womenwas observed in the highest quartile of sugar. A higher intake of dietary fiber was associated with a significantlylower breast cancer risk among both premenopausal (ORQ4 to Q1=0.31, 95%CI: 0.12-0.79, p-trend=0.009) andpostmenopausal (ORQ4 to Q1=0.23, 95%CI: 0.07-0.76, p-trend=0.031) women.
Conclusions: Sugar and dietaryfiber intake were independently related to pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer risk. However, no associationwas observed for dietary carbohydrate intake.