The influence of dietary patterns on the development of thyroid cancer

To elucidate the role of diet in the development of thyroid cancer, we conducted a case–control study of 113 persons with histologically-verified thyroid cancer and 138 controls, matched by age, gender and health unit. Socio-economic data, known risk factors and food consumption of more than 100 items were recorded by interviewer-administered prestructured questionnaire. Factor analysis was used to identify possible dietary patterns and logistic regression analysis was used to explore the effect of food items or dietary patterns on thyroid cancer. After adjustment for age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and total energy intake, significant positive associations were observed for pork consumption, while negative ones were observed for tomatoes, lemons and pasta. Dietary patterns of fruits, raw vegetables and mixed raw vegetables and fruits, led to a reduced risk (corresponding odds ratios (ORs) 0.68, 0.71, 0.73) for all thyroid cancers and similar figures were obtained for papillary thyroid cancers. A dietary pattern of fish and cooked vegetables led to an increased risk (OR 2.79) of follicular cancer.