The Thyroid Cancer Working Group

The incidence of thyroid carcinomas has been increasing dramatically over the past 20–30 years in many industrialized countries; it is the second most common cancer, after breast cancer, in young women. A large part of this increase has been due to diagnostic improvements, but other changes may also be involved. Little is known about thyroid cancer etiology so far; exposure to ionizing radiation (especially during childhood) and history of benign thyroid disease are the only well-established risk factors for differentiated thyroid carcinomas (the most common forms of thyroid cancer). Evidence is also accumulating that obesity and body fat are weakly but consistently associated with risk of thyroid cancer.

The aim of the Thyroid Cancer Working Group is to explore the associations of nutrition, lifestyle, and reproductive factors with risk of thyroid carcinomas, to identify modifiable risk factors to improve thyroid cancer prevention. This is done through the analyses of questionnaire-based data and measured anthropometric variables, as well as through the measurement of biomarkers in prospectively collected biological samples.

Current activities of the Working Group include studies on Mediterranean diet, intakes of sweetened beverages, inflammation and inflammatory potential of the diet, polyphenols, and untargeted metabolomics approaches.

Selected publications

  1. Llaha F, Cayssials V, Farràs M, Agudo A, Sandström M, Eriksen AK, et al. (2022). Adherence to Mediterranean diet and the risk of differentiated thyroid cancer in a European cohort: the EPIC study. Front Nutr. 9:982369. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.982369 PMID:36118743
  2. Zamora-Ros R, Cayssials V, Clèries R, Torrents M, Byrnes G, Weiderpass E, et al. (2023). Sweetened beverages are associated with a higher risk of differentiated thyroid cancer in the EPIC cohort: a dietary pattern approach. Eur J Nutr. 62(1):105–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-022-02953-5 PMID:35907037
  3. Lécuyer L, Laouali N, Dossus L, Shivappa N, Hébert JR, Agudo A, et al. (2022). Inflammatory potential of the diet and association with risk of differentiated thyroid cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Eur J Nutr. 61(7):3625–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-022-02897-w PMID:35635567
  4. Zamora-Ros R, Lujan-Barroso L, Achaintre D, Franceschi S, Kyrø C, Overvad K, et al. (2021). Blood polyphenol concentrations and differentiated thyroid carcinoma in women from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Am J Clin Nutr. 113(1):162–71. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqaa277 PMID:33021645
  5. Zamora-Ros R, Cayssials V, Franceschi S, Kyrø C, Weiderpass E, Hennings J, et al. (2020). Polyphenol intake and differentiated thyroid cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Int J Cancer. 146(7):1841–50. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.32589 PMID:31342519


Contact details/Working Group leader

Sabina Rinaldi, PhD
Nutrition and Metabolism Branch (NME)
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO)
25 avenue Tony Garnier
CS 90627
69366 LYON CEDEX 07
France
RinaldiS@iarc.who.int