Dietary intake of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids is related to the reduced risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: The relationship of consumption of dietary fat and fatty acids with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) risk remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the relationship of dietary fat and fatty acids intake with ESCC risk. METHODS: This case-control study included 879 incident cases and 892 community-based controls recruited from Southwest China. A food frequency questionnaire was adopted to collect information about dietary information, and intake of fat, saturated fatty acid (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), and total fatty acid (TFA) was calculated. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were estimated using the logistic regression model. RESULTS: When comparing the highest with lowest intake quintiles, MUFA (OR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.21–0.51), PUFA (OR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.20–0.51), and TFA (OR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.28–0.70) were related to a reduced risk of ESCC after adjusting for confounders; for non-drinkers rather than drinkers, the intake of SFA was significantly related to a 61% (OR: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.19–0.81) reduced risk of ESCC when comparing the highest with the lowest intake quintiles. Dietary fat was not related to the risk of ESCC. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that the more intake of MUFA and PUFA, the lower risk of ESCC, whereas the protective effect of TFA was only observed among non-drinkers. Strategic nutritional programs should consider food rich in unsaturated fatty acids to mitigate the occurrence of ESCC. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12944-022-01624-y.