Association of western dietary patterns and breast cancer in northern Ceará state: A case-control
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v15i1.50544Keywords:
Breast Cancer, Ultra-processed Foods, Healthy Eating Index, Nutrition Science.Abstract
Breast cancer remains one of the main public health problems in Brazil, especially in the North and Northeast regions, where inequalities persist in access to diagnosis, delays in treatment, and changes in dietary patterns marked by the consumption of ultra-processed foods. This study aims to investigate the association between diet quality and breast cancer in women treated in health services in northern Ceará. This is an observational case-control study, composed of 40 women with a recent diagnosis of breast cancer and 55 women without a history of the disease, matched by age group. Data collection involved face-to-face interviews using a quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), in addition to sociodemographic, gynecological-obstetric, anthropometric, and clinical information. Associations were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression, with calculation of Odds Ratio (OR) and 95% CI. The results showed that most participants, in both the case and control groups, had diets "needing improvement," and no category of the IASad showed a significant association with the outcome. Conversely, reproductive and anthropometric factors stood out: nulliparity increased the risk of breast cancer (OR = 4.32; p = 0.02), and obesity showed an inverse association (OR = 0.26; p = 0.01), a finding consistent with the literature for premenopausal women. It is concluded that, in the sample, reproductive and anthropometric factors exerted a greater influence on the risk of breast cancer than diet quality alone, reinforcing the need for multidimensional preventive strategies.
References
Águila, M. B., et al. (2015). Breastfeeding and breast cancer protection: Hormonal and metabolic mechanisms. Journal of Endocrinology, 226(2), R15–R26. https://doi.org/10.1530/JOE-15-0172
Cantinelli, F. S., et al. (2006). Fatores de risco para câncer de mama em mulheres jovens. Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia, 28(3), 151–158.
Costa Neto, P. L. O., & Bekman, O. R. (2009). Análise estatística da decisão. Blücher.
Do, T. M., Tran, T. T., Nguyen, T. H., & Pham, N. M. (2024). Associations between dietary factors and breast cancer risk: A systematic review. BMC Cancer, 24, 12918. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-024-12918-y
Farvid, M. S., Chen, W. Y., Michels, K. B., Cho, E., Willett, W. C., & Eliassen, A. H. (2018). Fruit and vegetable consumption in adolescence and early adulthood and risk of breast cancer. BMJ, 361, k223. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k223
Gil, A. C. (2017). Como elaborar projetos de pesquisa (6ª ed.). Atlas.
Harbeck, N., et al. (2021). Breast cancer. Nature Reviews Disease Primers, 7, Article 66. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41572-021-00286-6.
Ibarra, A. A., et al. (2015). Lactation and breast cancer risk reduction: Evidence and mechanisms. Salud Pública de México, 57(2), 158–166.
Karimi, M., Gholami, F., Rezaei, S., & Khodarahmi, R. (2025). Consumption of fast foods and ultra-processed foods and breast cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Global Health Research and Policy, 10(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41256-025-00330-2
Kennedy, E. T., et al. (1995). The Healthy Eating Index: Design and applications. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 95(10), 1103–1108.
Ministério da Saúde. (2013). Guia alimentar para a população brasileira (2ª ed.). Ministério da Saúde.
Ministério da Saúde. (2015). Saúde da criança: Aleitamento materno e alimentação complementar. Ministério da Saúde.
Mota, J. F., et al. (2008). Índice de Alimentação Saudável Adaptado (IASad): Proposta metodológica. Revista de Nutrição, 21(5), 545–556.
Oliveira, M. S., et al. (2021). Avaliação da qualidade da dieta de adultos em áreas urbanas e rurais utilizando o IASad. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, 26(7), 2893–2902.
Organização Mundial da Saúde. (2003). Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases. WHO.
Peacock, J. L., & Peacock, P. J. (2020). Oxford handbook of medical statistics (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Peacock, J. L., Kerry, S. M., & Balise, R. R. (2017). Presenting medical statistics from proposal to publication (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Pereira, A. S., Shitsuka, D. M., Parreira, F. J., & Shitsuka, R. (2018). Metodologia da pesquisa científica (e-book). Editora da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria.
Pierobon, M., & Frankenfeld, C. L. (2013). Obesity as a risk factor for triple-negative breast cancers: A review. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 137(1), 307–314. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-012-2362-3.
Razmi, H., Salehi-Abargouei, A., Azadbakht, L., & Keshteli, A. H. (2025). Associations of major dietary patterns with breast cancer risk: A case–control study. Scientific Reports, 15, 9931. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-09931-x
Rocha, H. Z., Tomazelli, J. G., & Silva, G. A. E. (2021). Análise epidemiológica do câncer de mama no Brasil: 2015 a 2020. Brazilian Journal of Health Review, 4(1), 1–11.
Stasiewicz, B., Kwiatkowska, K., Drywień, M. E., & Gromadzka-Ostrowska, J. (2025). Associations of nutritional knowledge with dietary patterns and breast cancer occurrence. Scientific Reports, 15, 11247. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-11247-9
Tan, J. E. X., Lee, J. Y., Lim, S. L., & Chan, M. F. (2025). Dietary and nutrition interventions for breast cancer survivors: A systematic review. Nutrients, 18(1), 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18010030
Waks, A., & Winer, E. (2019). Breast cancer treatment: A review. JAMA, 321(3), 288–300. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.19323
Xu, W., Wang, Y., Zhang, X., & Li, M. (2024). Dietary consumption patterns among breast cancer survivors: A population-based study. Public Health Nutrition, 27(14), 3245–3255. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980024001765
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Amanda Vieira Lima, Vicente de Paulo Teixeira Pinto, José Juvenal Linhares, Paulo Roberto Santo, Anderson Weiny Barbalho Silva
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
