Comparison of baseline dietary intake of Hispanic and matched non-Hispanic white breast cancer survivors enrolled in the Women's Healthy Eating and Living study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the reported baseline dietary intake of Hispanic and non-Hispanic white breast cancer survivors in the Women's Healthy Eating and Living study, a randomized plant-based dietary intervention clinical trial.

DESIGN: Dietary data from 4 days repeated 24-hour recalls within 3 weeks included daily total intake of energy, protein, carbohydrates, cholesterol, total fat, monounsaturated fat, saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, fruit/vegetable servings, carotenoids, alcohol, caffeine, and percentage of energy from protein, carbohydrates, alcohol, and fats.

SUBJECTS: One hundred sixty-five Hispanic breast cancer survivors age-matched to 165 non-Hispanic white breast cancer survivors diagnosed with Stage I, II, or IIIA primary operable breast cancer.

STATISTICAL ANALYSES: Two-sample t tests and Wilcoxon rank sum tests to compare dietary intake, and logistic and ordinal logistic regression analyses to examine the association between ethnicity, alcohol, and lycopene consumption, while controlling for place of birth, education, body mass index, and time since diagnosis.

RESULTS: Hispanics were more likely to be foreign-born (P<0.001), less educated (P<0.0001) and to consume higher amounts of lycopene (P=0.029), while non-Hispanic whites were more likely to consume alcohol (P=0.001). However, no differences were observed in the average amounts of alcohol consumed or total percents of energy from alcohol. Both groups consumed more than five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Being Hispanic remained a significant predictor of lower alcohol use (P=0.004) and higher lycopene consumption (P=0.005) after controlling for place of birth, education, body mass index, and time since diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONS: There are more similarities than differences in the dietary intake of Hispanic and non-Hispanic white breast cancer survivors in the Women's Healthy Eating and Living study. Further analysis is needed to determine if higher lycopene consumption shown among the Hispanic participants will translate to greater protection against breast cancer recurrence or increased survival.