Contribution of diet and lifestyle factors and metabolic phenotype to cancer risk in the Irish population: an investigation in middle- to older-aged adults

Dr Seán Millar

Lifestyle factors including diet, physical inactivity, smoking and alcohol consumption as well as high body mass index (BMI) are known to contribute to cancer risk. It has been estimated that 42-45% of cancer cases and cancer deaths in the United States are linked to modifiable lifestyle factors and thus could be prevented.

As the prevalence of diet and lifestyle risk factors increases, public health efforts focussed on the identification of more effective preventive and screening measures for whole populations and individuals are warranted. The overarching aim of the proposed research is to investigate the contribution of diet and lifestyle factors and metabolic phenotype to cancer risk in a cohort of middle- to older-aged Irish adults (Mitchelstown cohort).

The project will i) examine the relative contributions of dietary quality and the dietary inflammatory index to cancer risk by assessing their associations (as part of a healthy lifestyle score) with circulating inflammatory and lipoprotein subclass markers known to play an important role in carcinogenesis, and ii) determine associations between metabolic health phenotypes in both obese and non-obese middle-aged men and women and cancer risk. The holistic approach of assessing diet and lifestyle factors in combination with anthropometric and metabolic measures may be useful for defining strata of the population at greater risk of cancer and for whom targeted interventions may be particularly beneficial in terms of reducing disease risk.

Research Findings

Publications

Sean R. Millar,* Pilar Navarro, Janas M. Harrington, Nitin Shivappa, James R Hébert, Ivan J. Perry, Catherine M. Phillips. Dietary score associations with markers of chronic low-grade inflammation: a cross-sectional comparative analysis of a middle- to older-aged population. Eur J Nutr. 2022 May 5. doi: 10.1007/s00394-022-02892-1

Sean R. Millar,* Pilar Navarro, Janas M. Harrington, Nitin Shivappa, James R Hébert, Ivan J. Perry, Catherine M. Phillips. Comparing dietary score associations with lipoprotein particle subclass profiles: A cross-sectional analysis of a middle-to older-aged population. Clinical Nutrition 40 (2021) 4720-4729

Sean R. Millar,* Janas M. Harrington, Ivan J. Perry, Catherine M. Phillips. Protective lifestyle behaviours and lipoprotein particle subclass profiles in a middle-to older-aged population. Atherosclerosis 2020 Dec;314:18-26. doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2020.10.005. Epub 2020 Oct 8.

Seán R. Millar,* Pilar Navarro, Janas M. Harrington, Ivan J. Perry and Catherine M. Phillips. Dietary Quality Determined by the Healthy Eating Index-2015 and Biomarkers of Chronic Low-Grade Inflammation: A Cross-Sectional Analysis in Middle-to-Older Aged Adults. Nutrients. 2021 Jan 14;13(1):222. doi: 10.3390/nu13010222.

Seán R. Millar, Janas M. Harrington, Ivan J. Perry, Catherine M. Phillips. Associations between a protective lifestyle behaviour score and biomarkers of chronic low-grade inflammation: a cross-sectional analysis in middle-to-older aged adults. Int J Obes (Lond). 2021 Nov 8. doi: 10.1038/s41366-021-01012-z. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34744162.

 

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Start year:
2018
End year:
2020
Principal Investigator:
Dr Catherine Phillips (PI), Dr Janas Harrington and Prof Ivan Perry (co-PIs)
Lead researcher:
Dr Seán Millar
Institution:
University College Cork
Grant funding:
Breakthrough Cancer Research Project Grant
Cancer type:
All
Linked Breakthrough Research Priorities: 
3, 4, 5

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