Dietary Patterns of Insulinemia, Inflammation and Glycemia, and Pancreatic Cancer Risk: Findings from the Women's Health Initiative

Background: Pancreatic cancer risk is increasing in countries with high consumption of Western dietary patterns and rising obesity rates. We examined the hypothesis that specific dietary patterns reflecting hyperinsulinemia (empirical dietary index for hyperinsulinemia; EDIH), systemic inflammation (empirical dietary inflammatory pattern; EDIP), and postprandial glycemia [glycemic index (GI); glycemic load (GL)] are associated with pancreatic cancer risk, including the potential modifying role of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and body mass index (BMI). Methods: We calculated dietary scores from baseline (1993-1998) food frequency questionnaires among 129,241 women, 50-79 years-old in the Women's Health Initiative. We used multivariable-adjusted Cox regression to estimate HRs and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for pancreatic cancer risk. Results: During a median 19.9 years of follow-up, 850 pancreatic cancer cases were diagnosed. We observed no association between dietary scores and pancreatic cancer risk overall. However, risk was elevated among participants with longstanding T2D (present >3 years before pancreatic cancer diagnosis) for EDIH. For each 1 SD increment in dietary score, the HRs (95% CIs) were: EDIH, 1.33 (1.06-1.66); EDIP, 1.26 (0.98-1.63); GI, 1.26 (0.96-1.67); and GL, 1.23 (0.96-1.57); although interactions were not significant (all P-interaction >0.05). Separately, we observed inverse associations between GI [0.86 (0.76-0.96), P-interaction = 0.0068] and GL [0.83 (0.73-0.93), P-interaction = 0.0075], with pancreatic cancer risk among normal-weight women. Conclusions: We observed no overall association between the dietary patterns evaluated and pancreatic cancer risk, although women with T2D appeared to have greater cancer risk. Impact: The elevated risk for hyperinsulinemic diets among women with longstanding T2D and the inverse association among normal-weight women warrant further examination.

Automated summary

The study did not find an overall association between dietary patterns and pancreatic cancer risk, but women with longstanding T2D may have a higher cancer risk. In normal-weight women, glycemic index and glycemic load were inversely associated with pancreatic cancer risk.