Updated nutrient profiling system underlying nutri-score (Uns-Nps) and colorectal cancer risk

Area of Science:

• Nutritional Epidemiology
• Public Health Nutrition
• Cancer Prevention

Background:

• Poor diet contributes to millions of non-communicable disease deaths globally.
• Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labels, like Nutri-Score, aim to guide healthier food choices.
• The updated Nutrient Profiling System (uNS-NPS) is the basis for Nutri-Score.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between the uNS-NPS and Colorectal Cancer (CRC) risk.
• To evaluate the uNS-NPS dietary index (uNS-NPS-DI) in relation to CRC.
• To assess if diet quality, as measured by uNS-NPS, impacts CRC risk.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from two hospital-based case-control studies.
• Assessed dietary habits using a validated food frequency questionnaire.
• Derived the uNS-NPS-DI and analyzed its association with CRC risk using logistic regression, adjusting for confounders.

Main Results:

• Analyzed 2419 CRC cases and 4723 controls.
• Found similar uNS-NPS-DI distributions between cases and controls.
• Individuals with the lowest diet quality (highest uNS-NPS-DI quartile) had a modestly increased CRC risk (OR 1.17, 95% CI: 1.01-1.36).

Conclusions:

• Low nutritional quality diets, assessed by uNS-NPS, are modestly associated with increased CRC risk.
• Supports the utility of uNS-NPS in identifying dietary patterns linked to cancer risk.
• Highlights the public health importance of promoting healthier diets to reduce CRC burden.