Dietary patterns related to total mortality and cancer mortality in the United States

Purpose: This study investigated the association between dietary patterns, total mortality, and cancer mortality in the United States.

Methods: We identified the four major dietary patterns at baseline from 13,466 participants of the NHANES III cohort using principal component analysis (PCA). Dietary patterns were categorized into 'prudent' (fruits and vegetables), 'western' (red meat, sweets, pastries, oils), 'traditional' (red meat, legumes, potatoes, bread), and 'fish and alcohol'. We estimated hazard ratios for total mortality, and cancer mortality using Cox regression models.

Results: A total of 4,963 deaths were documented after a mean follow-up of 19.59 years. Higher adherence to the 'prudent' pattern was associated with the lowest risk of total mortality (5th vs. 1st quintile HR 0.90, 95% CI 0.82-0.98), with evidence that all-cause mortality decreased as consumption of the pattern increased. No evidence was found that the 'prudent' pattern reduced cancer mortality. The 'western' and the 'traditional' patterns were associated with up to 22% and 16% increased risk for total mortality (5th vs. 1st quintile HR 1.22, 95% CI 1.11-1.34; and 5th vs. 1st quintile HR 1.16, 95% CI 1.06-1.27, respectively), and up to 33% and 15% increased risk for cancer mortality (5th vs. 1st quintile HR 1.33, 95% CI 1.10-1.62; and 5th vs. 1st quintile HR 1.15, 95% CI 1.06-1.24, respectively). The associations between adherence to the 'fish and alcohol' pattern and total mortality, and cancer mortality were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: Higher adherence to the 'prudent' diet decreased the risk of all-cause mortality but did not affect cancer mortality. Greater adherence to the 'western' and 'traditional' diet increased the risk of total mortality and mortality due to cancer.