Scientific Reports · Nov 7, 2026
Dietary diversity score, alternative healthy eating index and odds of breast cancer
By Sadeghi O, Sasanfar B, Toorang F et al.
Previous studies have mainly focused on individual food groups and nutrients in relation to breast cancer and few studies have considered diet as a whole variable. The aim of this study was to examine the association of dietary diversity score (DDS) and alternative healthy eating index-2010 (AHEI-2010) with odds of breast cancer. In this case-control study, we enrolled 477 pathologically confirmed cases of breast cancer and 506 age-matched controls. Dietary assessment was done using a food frequency questionnaire. Dietary indices including DDS and AHEI-2010 were constructed according to standard methods. After controlling for potential confounders, we found a significant inverse association between DDS and odds of breast cancer; individuals in the highest tertile of DDS had 37% lower odds for having breast cancer compared with those in the lowest tertile (OR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.42–0.95). Such a significant inverse association was also seen among post-menopausal women; such that after taking potential confounders into account, women in the top tertile of DDS score were 60% less likely to have breast cancer compared with those in the bottom tertile (OR: 0.40, 95% CI: 0.19–0.83). With regard to AHEI, we found no significant association between AHEI score and odds of breast cancer either before or after controlling for potential confounders. This association remained non-significant either in pre-menopausal or post-menopausal women. We found that adherence to a diet with high diversity was associated with decreased odds of breast cancer. However, no significant association was observed between AHEI and breast cancer.