Diabetes Risk Reduction Diet lowers risk of Ovarian Cancer

New research revealed that Ovarian cancer is less in women who have high adherence to a diabetes risk reduction diet. Women with the highest DRRD adherence scores had a 24% lower risk of ovarian cancer compared to those with the lowest scores, even after adjusting for several potential confounders like measures of endogenous estrogen exposure, use of OC, family history of ovarian/breast cancer, and total energy intake. The study results were published in the journal Cancer Causes & Control. 

Diabetic women are at high risk of ovarian cancer due to the modulation of the insulin-like growth factor caused by hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia. A diabetes risk reduction diet that is characterized by high intakes of cereal fiber, polyunsaturated fatty acids, coffee, and nuts, and low intakes of carbohydrates, red and processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, and trans fatty acids was proposed for the prevention of T2 diabetes risk. Recent literature showed that this diet has reduced mortality from all causes like cardiovascular diseases and cancers. Hence researchers conducted a study to investigate the relationship between a diabetes risk reduction diet (DRRD) and ovarian cancer. 

The study was carried out in Italy using information from a multicentric case-control study that had 1031 incident ovarian cancer cases and 2411 controls admitted to hospital centers for acute non-malignant disease. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to collect information on the subjects’ diet before hospital admission. A score based on 8 dietary components was used to gauge adherence to the DRRD, giving higher scores for greater intakes of cereal fiber, coffee, fruit, and nuts, higher polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids ratio, the lower glycemic index of diet, and lower intakes of red/processed meat, and sweetened beverages/and fruit juices. Higher scores indicated greater adherence to the DRRD. Multiple logistic regression models were fitted to calculate the odds ratios (OR) of ovarian cancer and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for approximate quartiles of the DRRD score. 

Key findings: 

• The relationship between the DRRD score and ovarian cancer was inverse, with an OR of 0.76 for the highest quartile of the score compared to the lowest. 
• Results did not alter with the exclusion of women with diabetes. 
• Inverse associations were observed in strata of age, education, parity, menopausal status, and family history of ovarian/breast cancer. 

Thus, high adherence to a diet able to reduce the risk of diabetes may also be inversely associated with ovarian cancer. 

Further reading: Esposito, G., Turati, F., Parazzini, F. et al. Diabetes risk reduction diet and ovarian cancer risk: an Italian case-control study. Cancer Causes Control (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-023-01722-x