Participants’ glycaemic load and index scores were based on their responses to a modified version of the widely used National Cancer Institute Health Habits and History Questionnaire.
The analysis also accounted for participants’ age, sex, education, smoking status, physical activity, family history of lung cancer, body mass index, total caloric intake and history of emphysema, pneumonia or hay fever.
What did the researchers find out?
A higher glycaemic index was “statistically significantly associated with lung cancer risk, with a 49 percent increased risk of lung cancer among participants with the highest daily glycaemic index compared with the lowest”.
According to the researchers, the association was strongest among never smokers and individuals with squamous cell cancers or less than 12 years of education.