Yang W, et al. - In this study, investigators assessed the impact of whole grain and dietary fiber on the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Based on their findings, they noted an association of increased whole grain and cereal fiber/bran intake with reduced HCC risk among US adults.

Methods

• The study sample consisted of 125,455 participants from two cohorts from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study to assess the effect of whole grains, their subcomponents (bran and germ), and dietary fiber (cereal, fruit, and vegetable) on HCC risk.
• They collected the data related to whole grain intake, their subcomponents, and dietary fiber, which were updated almost every 4 years using validated food frequency questionnaires.
• Main outcomes and measures involved evaluation of multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs using Cox proportional hazards regression model after adjusting for most known HCC risk factors.

Results

• In all, they identified 141 participants with HCC after an average follow-up of 24.2 years.
• They noted an association of increased whole grain intake with lower risk of HCC (the highest vs lowest tertile intake: HR, 0.63; 95% CI: 0.41-0.96; P=0.04 for trend).
• They also found a nonsignificant inverse HCC association for total bran, but not for germ.
• A relationship between higher intake of cereal fiber and a nonsignificant reduced risk of HCC was evident upon further analysis.