Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids intake, air pollution, and the risk of lung cancer: A prospective study in UK biobank

Ting Chen; Lingling Song; Xiaoni Zhong; Qian Zhu; Jiao Huo; Jiahui Chen; Sensen Tan; Xuemei Lian

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163552

Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids intake, air pollution, and the risk of lung cancer: A prospective study in UK biobank

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jul 15:882:163552. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163552. Epub 2023 Apr 23.

Authors

Ting Chen¹, Lingling Song², Xiaoni Zhong², Qian Zhu³, Jiao Huo¹, Jiahui Chen², Sensen Tan², Xuemei Lian⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China; Chongqing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Chongqing 400042, China; Research Center for Medicine and Social Development, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
² School of Public Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China; Research Center for Medicine and Social Development, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
³ School of Public Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China; Centre for Lipid Research & Chongqing Key Laboratory of Metabolism on Lipid and Glucose, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Infectious Diseases (Ministry of Education), Institute for Viral Hepatitis, Department of Infectious Diseases, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, 400016 Chongqing, China; Research Center for Medicine and Social Development, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
⁴ School of Public Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China; Centre for Lipid Research & Chongqing Key Laboratory of Metabolism on Lipid and Glucose, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Infectious Diseases (Ministry of Education), Institute for Viral Hepatitis, Department of Infectious Diseases, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, 400016 Chongqing, China; Research Center for Medicine and Social Development, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China. Electronic address: xuemeilian@cqmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37094679
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163552

Abstract

Background: Epidemiological evidence on the association between specific types of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) intake and lung cancer risk is limited. However, whether dietary-specific PUFAs intake can modify the association between air pollutants and incident lung cancer remains unknown.

Methods: Cox proportional hazard models and restricted cubic spline regression were used to evaluate the associations of omega-3 PUFAs, omega-6 PUFAs and the ratio of omega-6 PUFAs to omega-3 PUFAs intake with lung cancer risk. Furthermore, we evaluated the associations between air pollutants and incident lung cancer, and whether dietary-specific PUFAs intake would modify the relationship using stratification analyses.

Results: This study found significant associations between the risk of lung cancer and omega-3 PUFAs intake (hazard ratio [HR], 0.82; 95 % confidence interval [CI], 0.73-0.93; per 1 g/d), and omega-6 PUFAs intake (HR, 0.98; 95 % CI, 0.96-0.99; per 1 g/d). We did not observe an association between the omega-6 to omega-3 PUFAs intake ratio and incident lung cancer. With regard to air pollution, omega-3 PUFAs intake attenuated the positive relationship between nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollution and lung cancer risk, and an increased incidence of lung cancer was found only in the low omega-3 PUFAs intake group (p < 0.05). Surprisingly, PUFAs intake (regardless of omega-3 PUFAs, omega-6 PUFAs, or in total) reinforced the pro-carcinogenic effects of PM_2.5 on lung cancer, and a positive association between PM_2.5 pollutants and incident lung cancer was observed only in the high PUFAs groups (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Higher dietary omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs intake was associated with a decreased risk of lung cancer in the study population. As omega-3 PUFAs have different modification effects on NO_X and PM_2.5 air pollution related lung cancer incidence, precautions should be taken when using omega-3 PUFAs as health-promoting dietary supplements, especially in high PM_2.5 burden regions.

Keywords: Air pollution; Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids; Lung cancer; Prospective cohort study.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants*
Air Pollution*
Biological Specimen Banks
Fatty Acids, Omega-3*
Fatty Acids, Unsaturated
Humans
Lung Neoplasms* / chemically induced
Lung Neoplasms* / epidemiology
Particulate Matter / adverse effects
Prospective Studies
United Kingdom / epidemiology

Substances

Fatty Acids, Omega-3
Fatty Acids, Unsaturated
Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter