Avocado and Guacamole Consumption and Colorectal Cancer Risk: The Multiethnic Cohort Study

Abstract

Dietary fiber and phytonutrients can protect against colorectal cancer, yet their consumption is low in the US. Avocados are a potential source of these beneficial nutrients. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the relationship between avocados/guacamole consumption and colorectal cancer risk in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. We assessed avocados/guacamole consumption by using a food frequency questionnaire. We classified participants into three consumer groups: <1 serving/month, 1–3 servings/month, and ≥1 serving/week with one serving defined as ½ avocado or ½ cup. Colorectal cancer cases were ascertained through the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program cancer registries. Cox proportional hazards models of colorectal cancer were used to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals across avocados/guacamole intake groups in each sex overall and by anatomic subsite (i.e., right colon, left colon, and rectum) and race and ethnicity. Of 192,651 eligible participants, 62.8% reported consuming <1 serving/month avocados/guacamole, 26.7% reported 1–3 servings/month, and 10.5% reported ≥1 serving/week. When adjusted for relevant covariates, there was no significant association with incident colorectal cancer overall, for subsites, or within racial and ethnic subgroups (all p for trend ≥ 0.06). In this large prospective cohort study, we did not find that consumption of avocados/guacamole was associated with colorectal cancer risk.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author Contributions

FWC, SYP, CAH, LRW, LLM, NAF: conception and design; FWC, SYP, NAF: analysis and interpretation of the data; FWC, SYP, NAF: the drafting of the paper; FWC, SYP, CAH, LRW, LLM, NAF: revising it critically for intellectual content; FWC, SYP, CAH, LRW, LLM, NAF: final approval of the version to be published; and all authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. FWC and NAF are employees of the Avocado Nutrition Center.

Additional information

Funding

Financial support, including the source and number of grants, for each author: partly supported by the National Cancer Institute (grant number U01 CA164973).