Andrea Romanos-Nanclares

Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Background & aims: Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer, and diet is suspected to play a role in its development. Dietary factors may mediate this process through modulation of inflammation, though findings from previous studies have not been consistent. We aimed to longitudinally assess the association between the dietary infl...

Purpose Breast cancer (BC) incidence is increasing worldwide. Higher insulin resistance may potentially lead to an increased risk of BC. Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) are an acknowledged dietary factor that increases insulin resistance. However, the association between SSB and BC has not been widely explored. We evaluated the association between...

Parental nutrition knowledge and attitudes play a fundamental role in their children’s food knowledge. However, little is known about their influence on their children’s diet quality and micronutrient intake. Thus, we aimed to assess the association of parental nutrition knowledge and healthy-eating attitudes with their children’s adherence to the...

Polyphenols are a wide family of phytochemicals present in diverse foods. They might play a role in cancer development and progression. In vivo and in vitro studies have suggested beneficial properties and potential mechanisms. We aimed to evaluate the association between total and main classes of polyphenol intake and breast cancer (BC) risk in th...

Background Dietary patterns promoting chronic inflammation, including the empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP), have been associated with certain cancers. Investigating whether this dietary pattern is associated with breast cancer—where the role of inflammation is less well-defined—could provide valuable insights and potentially improve st...

Debate persists regarding the potential carcinogenicity of aspartame as suggested by experimental studies. Therefore, we prospectively evaluated whether aspartame consumption is associated with breast cancer risk in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and Nurses’ Health study II (NHSII). We used Cox models to calculate HRs and 95% CIs. During up to 30 y...

An association between type 2 diabetes (T2D) and breast cancer risk has been reported. This association can be potentially explained by alteration of the insulin/IGF system. Therefore, we aimed to prospectively investigate whether a previously reported Dietary-Based Diabetes Risk Score (DDS) inversely associated with T2D was also associated with br...

Purpose The quality, rather than the quantity, of carbohydrate intake may play a major role in the etiology of obesity-related cancers (ORCs). We assessed the association between a previously defined carbohydrate quality index (CQI) and the risk of developing ORCs in the “Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra” (SUN) cohort. Methods A total of 18,446...

Background: Hyperinsulinemia may promote the growth and metastasis of breast cancers by activating the insulin/insulin-like growth factor 1 signaling pathways. Whether the insulinemic potential of the diet contributes to breast cancer prognosis has not been examined previously. Here, we focused on a food-based empirical dietary index for hyperinsul...

Background: Olive oil consumption may reduce breast cancer risk, but it is unclear whether olive oil is beneficial for breast cancer prevention in populations outside of Mediterranean regions, namely in the U.S., where the average consumption of olive oil is low compared with Mediterranean populations. We examined whether olive oil intake was asso...

Background: Coffee intake may protect against breast cancer; however, previous studies have been inconsistent and potential underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We aimed to 1) examine the association between total coffee, tea, and caffeine intake and breast cancer risk and 2) identify plasma metabolites associated with coffee intake and examine th...

Background: Dietary patterns promoting chronic inflammation, including the empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP), have been shown to strongly influence risk of weight gain, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and colorectal cancer. However, it is unclear if this dietary pattern is associated with other tumors in which the mechanisms ar...

Objective Dietary patterns may have a greater influence on human health than individual foods or nutrients and they are also of substantial interest in the field of breast cancer prevention. Beyond the adequate balance of macronutrients, evidence shows that the quality of macronutrient sources may play an important role in health outcomes. We sough...

Background Whilst unopposed estrogen exposure is considered a major driver of endometrial carcinogenesis, chronic inflammation and insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia are also major endometrial cancer risk factors. However, it is unclear whether diets with inflammatory or insulinemic potential are associated with risk of endometrial cancer. Method...

Avocados contain nutrients and phytochemicals that make it promising for cancer prevention, and chemopreventive properties have been demonstrated in prior studies. Prospective studies on avocado consumption and cancer risk have yet to be conducted. This study included data from 45,289 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS, 1986–2016...

Background: Insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia play important roles in the progression of multiple chronic disease and conditions. Diet modulates insulin response; however, evidence is limited regarding whether diets with higher insulinemic potential increase risk of invasive breast cancer. Objectives: We aimed to prospectively evaluate the...

Background: Whilst unopposed estrogen exposure is considered the major driver of endometrial carcinogenesis, inflammation and insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia are major biological pathways that increase the risk of endometrial cancer. However, it is unclear whether diets with inflammatory or insulinemic potential are associated with risk of type...

Background The association between parental perception of child’s weight and their attitudes towards his/her dietary habits has not been reported yet. This study aimed to assess the association between parental underestimation of child’s weight and parental attitudes towards child’s dietary habits. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis o...

Background: Insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia play important roles in the progression of multiple chronic disease and conditions. Diet modulates insulin response; however, evidence is limited regarding whether diet with higher insulinemic potential is associated with invasive breast cancer risk.Objectives: We prospectively evaluated the assoc...

PurposeEpidemiological evidence concerning the relationship between calcium and vitamin D intake and breast cancer (BC) is inconclusive. Moreover, the association according to menopausal status remains unclear. We aimed to assess whether total intakes from dietary and supplemental sources of calcium and vitamin D were associated with the incidence...

Introduction: the preschool stage is a critical period for teaching and modeling healthy habits to positively influence children's health and wellbeing throughout their lifetime. Objectives: to evaluate the association between parental attitudes towards their offspring's dietary habits in Spanish children aged 4 to 7 years participating in the S...

Background: Plant-based diets have been associated with lower risk of various diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other cardiometabolic risk factors. However, the association between plant-based diet quality and breast cancer remains unclear. Methods: We prospectively followed 76,690 women from the Nurses' Health Stu...

p>Purpose: Plant-based diets have been associated with lower risk of various diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other cardiometabolic risk factors and are recommended for both health and environmental benefits. However, the association between plant-based diet quality and breast cancer remains unclear. Therefore, we exa...

Background Whether consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) or artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) is associated with the risk of breast cancer is of public health interest. Objectives We sought to evaluate associations between consumption of SSBs and ASBs and risks of total and subtype-specific breast cancer. Methods We followed 82,71...

Objectives Whether consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) or artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) is associated with risk of breast cancer is of public health interest. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate associations between consumption of SSBs and ASBs with risk of total and subtype-specific breast cancer. Methods We followed 80,677 wome...

Evidence is still limited on the influence of sedentary lifestyles on breast cancer (BC) risk. Also, prospective information on the combined effects of both sedentariness and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) is scarce. We aimed to assess the association of higher sedentary behavior and LTPA (separately and in combination) with the risk of BC i...

There is growing interest in natural antioxidants and their potential effects on breast cancer (BC). Epidemiological evidence, however, is inconsistent. We prospectively evaluated the association between dietary intake of vitamins A, C, and E, selenium, and zinc and BC among 9983 female participants from the SUN Project, a Mediterranean cohort of u...

Dairy products might influence breast cancer (BC) risk. However, evidence is inconsistent. We sought to examine the association between dairy product consumption—and their subtypes—and incident BC in a Mediterranean cohort. The SUN (“Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra”) Project is a Spanish dynamic ongoing cohort of university graduates. Dairy prod...

Aim The association between caesarean delivery and the risk of overweight/obesity in the offspring has been previously reported using conventional measures of association (relative risks or odds ratios). We aimed at refining the existing evidence by calculating the marginal effect of the exposure and estimating the unmeasured residual confounding....

IntroductionBreast cancer prevalence is growing worldwide. Many factors, such as diet and lifestyle could be determinants of the incidence of breast cancer. Coffee has been extensively studied in relation to several chronic diseases because of its multiple effects in health maintenance and its elevated consumption. We studied the relationship betwe...

The global growing rates of cognitive decline and dementia, together with the absence of curative therapies for these conditions, support the interest in researching potential primary prevention interventions, with particular focus on dietary habits. The aim was to assess the association between the intake of polyphenols and 6-year change in cognit...

Objective To assess whether higher adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) was associated with lower consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) and lower free sugar intake. Design Cross-sectional analysis of baseline information among participants in the SENDO project, a Spanish paediatric cohort. Dietary information was collecte...

Introduction: currently, it is important to determine whether food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) are valid tools to collect information on usual diet in children. Objective: we evaluated the reproducibility and validity of the semi-quantitative FFQ used in a Spanish cohort of children aged 4-7 years. Methods: to explore its reproducibility, p...

A proportion of breast cancer cases are attributable to combined modifiable risk factors. The World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) has recently updated the recommendations for cancer prevention and a standard scoring system has been published. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between com...

Objectives Beyond the quantity of carbohydrate intake, further research is needed on the relevance of carbohydrate quality and chronic conditions. No previous longitudinal study has assessed the association between an integrated multi-dimensional index for carbohydrate intake quality and the risk of breast cancer (BC). Thus, we evaluated the associ...

Introduction Provegetarian diets, also denoted as predominantly plant-based (but not vegetarian or vegan) diets or plant-forward diets, have been associated with health benefits. However, a distinction is needed between high- and low-quality provegetarian dietary patterns (PVG). We sought to examine potential associations between PVG indices and br...

Background & Aims Beyond the quantity of carbohydrate intake, further research is needed on the relevance of carbohydrate quality. Thus, we evaluated the association between an a priori defined carbohydrate quality index (CQI) and the incidence of BC in a Mediterranean cohort study. Methods We used a validated semi-quantitative 136-item food-frequ...

Alcohol intake is associated with the risk of breast cancer. Different patterns of alcohol-drinking may have different effects on breast cancer even when keeping constant the total amount of alcohol consumed. We aimed to assess the association between binge drinking and breast cancer risk. The SUN Project is a Spanish dynamic prospective cohort of...

Dietary polyphenol intake is associated with improvement of metabolic disturbances. The aims of the present study are to describe dietary polyphenol intake in a population with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and to examine the association between polyphenol intake and the components of MetS. This cross-sectional analysis involved 6633 men and women incl...

Objective Due to the growing interest in the role of dietary patterns (DPs) on chronic diseases, we assessed the association between a posteriori identified DPs in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) Project – a prospective cohort study in a Mediterranean country – and breast cancer (BC) risk. Design DPs were ascertained through a princip...

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the leading type of cancer in women worldwide. Some factors, like leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), have been inversely associated with the risk of breast cancer. Nevertheless, evidence on the influence of sedentary lifestyles, LTPA, and their combined exposure on breast cancer risk is still limited. We aimed to as...

Background: Biological and epidemiological evidence supports an inverse association of phenolic acids with obesity-related chronic diseases. However, no previous study has prospectively evaluated the relationship between subclasses and individual compounds of phenolic acids and the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, one of the most important an...

Introducción: Pant-based diets, often denoted as pro-vegetarian diets, have been associated with health benefits and chronic disease prevention. However, a distinction is needed between high-and low-quality provegetarian dietary patterns (PVDP). We sought to examine potential associations between PVDP indices and breast cancer (BC) incidence. Metho...

Background: Depression is considered to be a multifactorial disease. There is evidence that a range of lifestyle factors are involved in the pathogenesis of depression and many of these factors can be modified for the potential pre- vention of depression. The aim of this study was to assess the association between a healthy-lifestyle score and the...

Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) incidence is increasing worldwide. The risk of BC duplicates each decade until the menopause immediately upon it starts to decelerate. Although causes of BC are not fully understood, it has been suggested that higher insulin resistance may lead to an increased risk of BC. Among the dietary factors that can influence...

Some available evidence suggests that high consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is associated with a higher risk of obesity, hypertension and metabolic syndrome. A growing body of research on the link between depression and other non-communicable diseases suggests that UPFs might also be associated with depression, which is among the leading...