Dietary glycaemic index, glycaemic load and head and neck cancer risk: a pooled analysis in an international consortium

High dietary glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) may increase cancer risk. However, limited information was available on GI and/or GL and head and neck cancer (HNC) risk. We conducted a pooled analysis on 8 case-control studies (4081 HNC cases; 7407 controls) from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium. We estimated the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of HNC, and its subsites, from fixed- or mixed-effects logistic models including centre-specific quartiles of GI or GL. GI, but not GL, had a weak positive association with HNC (OR(Q4 vs. Q1) = 1.16; 95% CI = 1.02–1.31). In subsites, we found a positive association between GI and laryngeal cancer (OR(Q4 vs. Q1) = 1.60; 95% CI = 1.30–1.96) and an inverse association between GL and oropharyngeal cancer (OR(Q4 vs. Q1) = 0.78; 95% CI = 0.63–0.97). This pooled analysis indicates a modest positive association between GI and HNC, mainly driven by laryngeal cancer.