Researchers found that having a diet high in inflammatory foods, measured by the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), is significantly associated with increased breast cancer risk in both pre- and postmenopausal women, according to a study recently published in Frontiers in Nutrition.
DII is a measure of a diet’s inflammatory potential. Current evidence from prior meta-analyses suggests similar associations, but this update includes newer studies and subgroup analyses.
DII is a tool that scores diets based on the inflammatory effects of 45 food parameters, noting chronic inflammation’s role in carcinogenesis. Breast cancer risk factors include genetic factors, hormonal influences, lifestyle and environment.
The authors wrote that “abundant consumption” of anti-inflammatory foods can help prevent and manage breast cancer. These include:
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Whole grains
- Healthy fats
Learn more about breast cancer causes and risk factors
The authors reviewed studies on the association between the DII or Energy-adjusted DII (E-DII) and breast cancer risk to provide updated evidence on how pro-inflammatory diets influence breast cancer.
The methods involved searching PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library up to September 30, 2025, for observational studies. Outcomes showed that higher DII was linked to higher breast cancer risk. Improvements to this review could include prospective designs to minimize recall bias in case-controls, standardized DII calculation across studies, adjustment for more confounders like physical activity and larger cohorts for subgroup power.
“The current evidence suggests that the DII is associated with breast cancer risk, with pro-inflammatory dietary patterns linked to a higher risk of breast cancer,” the authors wrote.
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