Prebiotic foods in association with plasma levels of IGF-1 andIGFBP-3 in breast cancer patients

High insulin like growth factor-I (IGF-I) levels, has been notice to be contributed in the malignant cells proliferation. It is well known that IGF-Iassociates inversely with the circulation level of IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3). However, few studies have denoted to the association of dietaryfactors on concerning biomarkers. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the relation between dietary intakes of prebiotics and plasma concentrations of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 among Iranian women with breast cancer (BC) residing in North-West of Iran. A validated, food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was completed by 170 women with BC (aged 25 to 65 years). Plasma concentrations of biomarkers were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Multivariate logistic regression models were performed. Our results showed that the higher amount of raw onion and garlic intakes were related to lower IGF-1 levels at ORs of 0.45(95%CI: 0.20-1.04) and 0.53(95%CI: 0.25-1.13), respectively. There was a positive trend of IGFBP-3 concentrations across the increasing intake tertiles of total and raw onion with ORs equal to 2.47(95%CI: 1.02-5.99) and 2.15(95%CI: 0.96-4.80), respectively. Additionally, we observed a statistically positive significant relation between average intakes of whole-wheat bread and IGFBP-3 levels (P< 0.001). Our findings suggested that certain dietary prebiotics; in particular onion, garlic and whole-wheat bread intakes were in association with plasma IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 concentrations among BC patients.