The Association Between Adherence to Mediterranean, DASH, and MIND Diets and the Risk of Breast Cancer: A Case–Control Study in Iranian Women

Purpose: Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality among women worldwide. This study was aimed at investigating the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diets and the odds of developing breast cancer. Methods: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted with 106 histopathologically confirmed breast cancer cases and 107 age-matched controls. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated 147-item food frequency questionnaire. Adherence scores for the MD, DASH, and MIND diets were calculated and categorized into tertiles. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs), adjusting for age, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, physical activity, education, employment, and family history of cancer. Results: After full adjustment, compared to the lowest tertile, women in the highest tertile of MD, DASH, and MIND diet adherence had a 75% (OR = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.10-0.64), 76% (OR = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.09-0.62), and 72% (OR = 0.28, 95% CI: 0.11-0.75) reduced odds of breast cancer, respectively. All trends were statistically significant. However, stratification by menopausal status revealed no significant associations within pre- or postmenopausal subgroups. Conclusion: Greater adherence to the MD, DASH, and MIND diets is associated with a substantially lower likelihood of breast cancer in Iranian women. These findings highlight the potential of healthy dietary patterns as a modifiable factor for breast cancer prevention in this population.