Quality Diet Index and Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: Findings from the Singapore Chinese Health Study

Limited research has been conducted on the effect of quality diet index (QDI), which represents a comprehensive assessment of healthy diet quality and quantity, on pancreatic cancer risk in Asian populations.

Using data from the Singapore Chinese Health Study, a prospective cohort of 63,257 middle-aged or older Chinese men and women, four QDI scores: the Alternative Health Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010), the alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED), the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and the Heathy Diet Indicator (HDI), at baseline were calculated. After 25 years of follow-up, 311 cohort participants developed pancreatic cancer. Cox proportional hazard regression method was used to estimate HR and 95% confidence interval (CI) for pancreatic cancer associated with higher QDI scores.

Higher scores of AHEI-2010, aMED, and DASH were significantly associated with lower pancreatic cancer risk (all P _trend < 0.05). Compared with the lowest quartile, HRs (95% CIs) of pancreatic cancer for the highest quartiles of AHEI-2010, aMED, and DASH scores were 0.65 (0.46-0.90), 0.57 (0.38-0.85), and 0.66 (0.46-0.95), respectively. These associations were more apparent among men. Overall, there was no statistically significant difference in the QDI-pancreatic cancer risk association between subgroups stratified by levels of body mass index, history of diabetes, and smoking status.

Higher QDI scores were significantly associated with reduced risk of pancreatic cancer.

The consistent results across multiple QDIs shows that adherence to a healthy diet may lower pancreatic cancer risk, suggesting that dietary modification may be a promising approach for primary prevention of pancreatic cancer.