Intake of poultry and fish and risk of cancer in the NIH‐AARP Diet and Health Study

Intake of poultry and fish, as opposed to red meat, is recommended for chronic disease prevention, but to our knowledge, no single prospective study has examined white meat intake and cancer risk across a range of malignancies in men and women. In a U.S. cohort of half‐a‐million people, we investigated poultry, fish, and canned tuna intake in relation to cancer risk at multiple sites. Diet was assessed at baseline (1995–1996); and over a median follow‐up of 9 years we identified 51,419 and 22,999 incident cancer cases in men and women, respectively. Risks were estimated with Cox proportional hazards models across quintiles of intake. In men, poultry intake was associated with statistically significantly reduced risks (10% to 30%) of rectal, liver, bladder, and lung cancer, but increased risk of thyroid cancer. In women, poultry intake was related to a 70% lower risk of laryngeal cancer, but a 3‐fold higher risk of premenopausal breast cancer. Intake of canned tuna was associated with a 20 to 30% elevated risk of pancreatic cancer in men, ovarian cancer in women, and melanoma in both sexes. In the largest prospective study of this topic to‐date, we found little evidence across cancer sites of a protective role for fish intake. Poultry intake was associated with lower risk of rectal, liver, bladder, and lung cancer in men and laryngeal cancer in women, but higher risk of thyroid cancer in men and premenopausal breast cancer in women.