Ultra-processed food intake and risk of renal cell carcinoma in the NIH-AARP Diet and health study: a prospective cohort analysis.

Kaelyn F Burns, Mark P Purdue, Neha Khandpur, Euridice Martinez-Steele, Rashmi Sinha, Hyokyoung G Hong, Erikka Loftfield

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Article in Lancet regional health. Americas, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Kaelyn F BurnsMetabolic Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, USA.

Mark P PurdueOccupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, USA.

Neha KhandpurDivision of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands.

Euridice Martinez-SteeleNUPENS, School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

Rashmi SinhaMetabolic Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, USA.

Hyokyoung G HongBiostatistics Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, USA.

Erikka LoftfieldMetabolic Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Ultra-processed foods (UPF) are widely consumed and have been linked to obesity and hypertension, risk factors of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and the common clear cell (cc) RCC subtype. We evaluated the association between UPF and RCC. Methods: In the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, a US prospective cohort, participants with no cancer history at baseline (October 1995-May 1996) were followed until the date of first cancer diagnosis, death, or end of follow-up (December 31, 2018). Diet was self-reported using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). FFQ items were assigned to Nova classifications to determine UPF intake (grams per day per 1000 kcal). Probabilistic linkages to cancer registries identified incident RCC diagnoses. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for RCC and cc-RCC risk by UPF quartiles. Findings: Among 480,347 participants, the median (interquartile range [IQR]) age was 62.6 (57.7-66.6), 59.6% (n = 286,150) were male, 91.3% (n = 438,355) were White. The median (IQR) UPF intake was 293 (197.7-467.2) grams per day per 1000 kcal. There were 3330 RCC diagnoses over follow-up, of which 1216 were cc-RCC. Higher UPF intake was associated with higher RCC [HR (95% CI) Interpretation: UPF intake was associated with higher RCC and cc-RCC risk. Further research is needed to elucidate potential mechanisms linking UPF to RCC. Funding: Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health.

Indexed as

Cancer incidenceCohort studyKidney cancerRenal cell carcinomaUltra-processed foods

Identifiers

PMID42404163

DOI10.1016/j.lana.2026.101548

PMCPMC13332114

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND

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