Healthful Plant-Based Dietary Pattern and Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in a Multiethnic Population: A Cohort...

Plant-based dietary patterns assessed by a priori indices are associated with various health outcomes, but have rarely been examined in relation to liver cancer.

This study investigated the associations between plant-based diets and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and evaluated whether the associations vary by sex and race and ethnicity.

Data were from a total of 170,321 African American, Japanese American, Latino, Native Hawaiian, and White adults aged 45-75 y who completed a food frequency questionnaire in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. Cox models with adjustment for potential confounders were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for HCC according to 3 plant-based diet scores: overall plant-based diet index (PDI), healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI), and unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI).

During a mean follow-up of 19.6 y, 722 incident HCC cases were identified. Multivariate-adjusted HR (95% CI) per 10-point increase was 0.82 (0.71-0.94) for PDI, 0.84 (0.74-0.96) for hPDI, and 1.08 (0.95-1.23) for uPDI. We found no significant differences by sex (all P_{heterogeneity} ≥ 0.53) or race and ethnicity (all P_{heterogeneity} ≥ 0.31).

Greater adherence to plant-based diets rich in healthy plant foods and low in less healthy plant foods is associated with a reduced risk of HCC in a multiethnic population.