Author information
1 School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, P. R. China.
2 Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
3 Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, P.R. China.
4 Center for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, School of Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, P.R. China.
5 Liver Center, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
6 Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
7 Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit (CTEU), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
8 Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P.R. China.
9 Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
10 Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Epidemiological evidence on the associations between meat intake and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was limited and inconsistent.
METHODS:
We prospectively examined the association between consumption of meats and meat mutagens with HCC risk using data from the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Cox proportional-hazards regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) after adjusting for known liver-cancer risk factors.
RESULTS:
During up to 32 years of follow-up, we documented 163 incident HCC cases. The HRs of HCC for the highest vs the lowest tertile intake levels were 1.84 (95% CI: 1.16-2.92, Ptrend = 0.04) for processed red meats and 0.61 (95% CI: 0.40-0.91, Ptrend = 0.02) for total white meats. There was a null association between unprocessed red meats and HCC risk (HR = 1.06, 95% CI: 0.68-1.63, Ptrend = 0.85). We found both poultry (HR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.40-0.90, Ptrend = 0.01) and fish (HR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.47-1.05, Ptrend = 0.10) were inversely associated with HCC risk. The HR for HCC risk was 0.79 (95% CI: 0.61-1.02) when 1 standard deviation of processed red meats was substituted with an equivalent amount of poultry or fish intake. We also found a suggestive positive association of intake of meat-derived mutagenicity or heterocyclic amines with risk of HCC.
CONCLUSIONS:
Processed red meat intake might be associated with higher, whereas poultry or possibly fish intake might be associated with lower, risk of HCC. Replacing processed red meat with poultry or fish might be associated with reduced HCC risk.