High-sugar foods and breast cancer risk from the Health Examinees study
8 affiliations
- 1Division of Food and Pharmaceutical Technology, Mokwon University, Daejeon, 35349 Korea
- 2Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080 Korea
- 3Integrated Major in Innovative Medical Science, Seoul National University Graduate School, Seoul, 03080 Korea
- 4Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University Graduate School, Seoul, 03080 Korea
- 5Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, 03080 Korea
- 6Departments of Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, 03080 Korea
- 7Biomedical Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, 03080 Korea
- 8Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826 Korea
Abstract
Purpose: The association between excessive sugar intake and breast cancer risk has been considered, however, results are unclear. This study aimed to examine the association between high-sugar foods intake and breast cancer in a prospective cohort study.
Methods: This study included 92,314 women aged 40–69 years from the Health Examinees-Gem (HEXA-G) study (2004–2013). High-sugar foods were defined as sugar-rich food groups identified from the food frequency questionnaire. Multivariate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for breast cancer risk according to high-sugar foods consumption were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models. A total of 713 breast cancer cases occurred over an average follow-up of 9.20 years.
Results: The top three foods contributing to total sugar intake were fruits (42.89%), Korean traditional tea (5.60%), and ice cream (2.51%). Overall, consuming more than two servings of total high-sugar foods per week was associated with a 28% higher risk compared to less than once per month (HR = 1.28; 95% CI 1.02–1.61, P for trend = 0.05), with particularly significant associations observed for sugary cereals and ice cream. Notably, fruit intake, which accounted for the largest proportion of dietary sugar intake in this population, was not associated with breast cancer risk.
Conclusion: Higher consumption of high-sugar foods was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, whereas fruit intake was not. These findings suggest that sugar sources, rather than total sugar intake alone, may be important when considering dietary strategies for breast cancer prevention.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-026-04134-0.
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BibTeX
@article{shin2026highsugar,
title = {{High-sugar foods and breast cancer risk from the Health Examinees study}},
author = {Woo-Kyoung Shin and Hyobin Lee and Dan Huang and Katherine De la Torre and Sukhong Min and Ji-Yeob Choi and Aesun Shin and Wonshik Han and Jung Eun Lee and Daehee Kang},
journal = {European Journal of Nutrition},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1007/s00394-026-04134-0},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-026-04134-0},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - High-sugar foods and breast cancer risk from the Health Examinees study
AU - Woo-Kyoung Shin
AU - Hyobin Lee
AU - Dan Huang
AU - Katherine De la Torre
AU - Sukhong Min
AU - Ji-Yeob Choi
AU - Aesun Shin
AU - Wonshik Han
AU - Jung Eun Lee
AU - Daehee Kang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/31
JO - European Journal of Nutrition
DO - 10.1007/s00394-026-04134-0
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-026-04134-0
AB - Purpose: The association between excessive sugar intake and breast cancer risk has been considered, however, results are unclear. This study aimed to examine the association between high-sugar foods intake and breast cancer in a prospective cohort study. Methods: This study included 92,314 women aged 40–69 years from the Health Examinees-Gem (HEXA-G) study (2004–2013). High-sugar foods were defined as sugar-rich food groups identified from the food frequency questionnaire. Multivariate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for breast cancer risk according to high-sugar foods consumption were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models. A total of 713 breast cancer cases occurred over an average follow-up of 9.20 years. Results: The top three foods contributing to total sugar intake were fruits (42.89%), Korean traditional tea (5.60%), and ice cream (2.51%). Overall, consuming more than two servings of total high-sugar foods per week was associated with a 28% higher risk compared to less than once per month (HR = 1.28; 95% CI 1.02–1.61, P for trend = 0.05), with particularly significant associations observed for sugary cereals and ice cream. Notably, fruit intake, which accounted for the largest proportion of dietary sugar intake in this population, was not associated with breast cancer risk. Conclusion: Higher consumption of high-sugar foods was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, whereas fruit intake was not. These findings suggest that sugar sources, rather than total sugar intake alone, may be important when considering dietary strategies for breast cancer prevention. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-026-04134-0.
SN - 1436-6207
SN - 1436-6215
ER -