Intake of total, classes, and subclasses of (poly)phenols and risk of lymphoid neoplasms: a prospective analysis in the EPIC cohort

Enrique Almanza-Aguilera; David Guananga-Álvarez; Yolanda Benavente; Alexandra Nieters; Caroline Besson; Fatemeh Saberi Hosnijeh; Cecilie Kyrø; Nicola P. Bondonno; Christina C. Dahm; Elisabete Weiderpass; Therese Truong; Mariem Louati-hajji; Xuan Ren; Verena Katzke; Matthias B. Schulze; Fabrizio Pasanisi; Claudia Vener; Giovanna Masala; Maria Teresa Giraudo; Rosario Tumino; Amaia Aizpurua; Maria Jose Sánchez; José María Huerta; Marcela Guevara; Cristina Lasheras; Paolo Vineis; Roel Vermeulen; Raul Zamora-Ros; Delphine Casabonne

doi:10.1038/s41416-025-03228-6

Intake of total, classes, and subclasses of (poly)phenols and risk of lymphoid neoplasms: a prospective analysis in the EPIC cohort

Enrique Almanza-Aguilera
, David Guananga-Álvarez
, Yolanda Benavente
, Alexandra Nieters
, Caroline Besson
, Fatemeh Saberi Hosnijeh
, Cecilie Kyrø
, Nicola P. Bondonno
, Christina C. Dahm
, Elisabete Weiderpass
, Therese Truong
, Mariem Louati-hajji
, Xuan Ren
, Verena Katzke
, Matthias B. Schulze
, Fabrizio Pasanisi
, Claudia Vener
, Giovanna Masala
, Maria Teresa Giraudo
, Rosario Tumino

Amaia Aizpurua, Maria Jose Sánchez, José María Huerta, Marcela Guevara, Cristina Lasheras, Paolo Vineis, Roel Vermeulen, Raul Zamora-Ros, Delphine Casabonne^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Background: Existing epidemiological evidence regarding the potential role of (poly)phenol intake in lymphoma development is limited. Methods: We investigated the associations between the intake of total and individual classes and subclasses of (poly)phenols and the risk of lymphoma, including main frequent subtypes in the EPIC cohort using multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models. Results: During a mean 14-year follow-up (time frame: from 1990–1994 to 2008–2013), 2394 incident lymphoma cases were diagnosed from a total of 367,463 individuals. No significant associations were observed between total intakes of (poly)phenols, flavonoids, and phenolic acids and overall lymphoma risk. Total (poly)phenols, phenolic acid and hydroxycinnamic acid intakes were positively associated with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) risk [HR_log2 = 2.56 (95% confidence interval: 1.27–5.16); 1.81 (1.14–2.87); and 1.48 (1.03–2.12), respectively]. Conversely, isoflavone intakes was inversely associated with risk of overall lymphoma [HR_log2 = 0.96 (0.93–0.99)], and non-Hodgkin lymphoma [HR_log2 = 0.95 (0.92–0.99)] and mature B-cell lymphoma [HR_log2 = 0.96 (0.92–0.99)], and flavone intakes with risk of multiple myeloma/plasma cell neoplasm [HR_log2 = 0.75 (0.60–0.95)]. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that isoflavone intakes may reduce the risk of overall lymphoma and specific lymphoma subtypes, while phenolic acids, particularly hydroxycinnamic acids might increase the risk of HL.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1864-1871
Number of pages	8
Journal	British Journal of Cancer
Volume	133
Issue number	12
Early online date	4 Oct 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-025-03228-6
Publication status	Published - 28 Dec 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2025.

Funding

This work was partially supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III-ISCIII (Spanish Government) co-funded by FEDER funds/European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)-a way to build Europe (CIBERESP CB06/02/0073, PI20/00288), also with the support of the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia (2021SGR01354). We thank the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya for institutional support to IDIBELL. The coordination of EPIC is financially supported by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and by the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London which has additional infrastructure support provided by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The national cohorts are supported by: Danish Cancer Society (Denmark); Ligue Contre le Cancer, Institut Gustave Roussy, Mutuelle Generale de l'Education Nationale, Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM) (France); German Cancer Aid, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (Germany); Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro-AIRC-Italy, Compagnia di SanPaolo and National Research Council (Italy); Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports (VWS), Netherlands Cancer Registry (NKR), LK Research Funds, Dutch Prevention Funds, Dutch ZON (Zorg Onderzoek Nederland), World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), Statistics Netherlands (The Netherlands); Health Research Fund (FIS)-Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Regional Governments of Andalucia, Asturias, Basque Country, Murcia and Navarra, and the Catalan Institute of Oncology-ICO (Spain); Swedish Cancer Society, Swedish Research Council and County Councils of Skane and Vasterbotten (Sweden); Cancer Research UK (14136 to EPIC-Norfolk; C8221/A29017 to EPIC-Oxford), Medical Research Council (1000143 to EPIC-Norfolk; MR/M012190/1 to EP-IC-Oxford) (United Kingdom). NPB is funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship (Grant number APP1159914), Australia.

Funders	Funder number
Instituto de Salud Carlos III-ISCIII (Spanish Government)
FEDER funds/European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)-a way to build Europe (CIBERESP)	CB06/02/0073, PI20/00288
Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia	2021SGR01354
CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London
NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)
Danish Cancer Society (Denmark)
Ligue Contre le Cancer
Institut Gustave Roussy
Mutuelle Generale de l'Education Nationale
Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM) (France)
German Cancer Aid
German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE)
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (Germany)
Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro-AIRC-Italy
Compagnia di SanPaolo and National Research Council (Italy)
Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports
Netherlands Cancer Registry
LK Research Funds
Dutch Prevention Funds
Dutch ZON (Zorg Onderzoek Nederland)
World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF)
Statistics Netherlands (The Netherlands)
Health Research Fund (FIS)-Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Regional Governments of Andalucia
Asturias
Basque Country
Murcia and Navarra
Catalan Institute of Oncology-ICO (Spain)
Swedish Cancer Society
Swedish Research Council
County Council of Skane
County Council of Vasterbotten (Sweden)
Cancer Research UK	14136, C8221/A29017
Medical Research Council	1000143, MR/M012190/1
National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship, Australia	APP1159914

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1038/s41416-025-03228-6

Cite this

Almanza-Aguilera, E., Guananga-Álvarez, D., Benavente, Y., Nieters, A., Besson, C., Saberi Hosnijeh, F., Kyrø, C., Bondonno, N. P., Dahm, C. C., Weiderpass, E., Truong, T., Louati-hajji, M., Ren, X., Katzke, V., Schulze, M. B., Pasanisi, F., Vener, C., Masala, G., Giraudo, M. T., ... Casabonne, D. (2025). Intake of total, classes, and subclasses of (poly)phenols and risk of lymphoid neoplasms: a prospective analysis in the EPIC cohort. British Journal of Cancer, 133(12), 1864-1871. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-025-03228-6

@article{9315441886c348d09f4c1eb13ecb5602,

title = "Intake of total, classes, and subclasses of (poly)phenols and risk of lymphoid neoplasms: a prospective analysis in the EPIC cohort",

abstract = "Background: Existing epidemiological evidence regarding the potential role of (poly)phenol intake in lymphoma development is limited. Methods: We investigated the associations between the intake of total and individual classes and subclasses of (poly)phenols and the risk of lymphoma, including main frequent subtypes in the EPIC cohort using multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models. Results: During a mean 14-year follow-up (time frame: from 1990–1994 to 2008–2013), 2394 incident lymphoma cases were diagnosed from a total of 367,463 individuals. No significant associations were observed between total intakes of (poly)phenols, flavonoids, and phenolic acids and overall lymphoma risk. Total (poly)phenols, phenolic acid and hydroxycinnamic acid intakes were positively associated with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) risk [HRlog2 = 2.56 (95\% confidence interval: 1.27–5.16); 1.81 (1.14–2.87); and 1.48 (1.03–2.12), respectively]. Conversely, isoflavone intakes was inversely associated with risk of overall lymphoma [HRlog2 = 0.96 (0.93–0.99)], and non-Hodgkin lymphoma [HRlog2 = 0.95 (0.92–0.99)] and mature B-cell lymphoma [HRlog2 = 0.96 (0.92–0.99)], and flavone intakes with risk of multiple myeloma/plasma cell neoplasm [HRlog2 = 0.75 (0.60–0.95)]. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that isoflavone intakes may reduce the risk of overall lymphoma and specific lymphoma subtypes, while phenolic acids, particularly hydroxycinnamic acids might increase the risk of HL.",

author = "Enrique Almanza-Aguilera and David Guananga-{\'A}lvarez and Yolanda Benavente and Alexandra Nieters and Caroline Besson and \{Saberi Hosnijeh\}, Fatemeh and Cecilie Kyr{\o} and Bondonno, \{Nicola P.\} and Dahm, \{Christina C.\} and Elisabete Weiderpass and Therese Truong and Mariem Louati-hajji and Xuan Ren and Verena Katzke and Schulze, \{Matthias B.\} and Fabrizio Pasanisi and Claudia Vener and Giovanna Masala and Giraudo, \{Maria Teresa\} and Rosario Tumino and Amaia Aizpurua and S{\'a}nchez, \{Maria Jose\} and Huerta, \{Jos{\'e} Mar{\'i}a\} and Marcela Guevara and Cristina Lasheras and Paolo Vineis and Roel Vermeulen and Raul Zamora-Ros and Delphine Casabonne",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2025.",

year = "2025",

month = dec,

day = "28",

doi = "10.1038/s41416-025-03228-6",

language = "English",

volume = "133",

pages = "1864--1871",

journal = "British Journal of Cancer",

issn = "0007-0920",

publisher = "Springer Nature",

number = "12",

}

Almanza-Aguilera, E, Guananga-Álvarez, D, Benavente, Y, Nieters, A, Besson, C, Saberi Hosnijeh, F, Kyrø, C, Bondonno, NP, Dahm, CC, Weiderpass, E, Truong, T, Louati-hajji, M, Ren, X, Katzke, V, Schulze, MB, Pasanisi, F, Vener, C, Masala, G, Giraudo, MT, Tumino, R, Aizpurua, A, Sánchez, MJ, Huerta, JM, Guevara, M, Lasheras, C, Vineis, P, Vermeulen, R, Zamora-Ros, R & Casabonne, D 2025, 'Intake of total, classes, and subclasses of (poly)phenols and risk of lymphoid neoplasms: a prospective analysis in the EPIC cohort', British Journal of Cancer, vol. 133, no. 12, pp. 1864-1871. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-025-03228-6

TY - JOUR

T1 - Intake of total, classes, and subclasses of (poly)phenols and risk of lymphoid neoplasms

T2 - a prospective analysis in the EPIC cohort

AU - Almanza-Aguilera, Enrique

AU - Guananga-Álvarez, David

AU - Benavente, Yolanda

AU - Nieters, Alexandra

AU - Besson, Caroline

AU - Saberi Hosnijeh, Fatemeh

AU - Kyrø, Cecilie

AU - Bondonno, Nicola P.

AU - Dahm, Christina C.

AU - Weiderpass, Elisabete

AU - Truong, Therese

AU - Louati-hajji, Mariem

AU - Ren, Xuan

AU - Katzke, Verena

AU - Schulze, Matthias B.

AU - Pasanisi, Fabrizio

AU - Vener, Claudia

AU - Masala, Giovanna

AU - Giraudo, Maria Teresa

AU - Tumino, Rosario

AU - Aizpurua, Amaia

AU - Sánchez, Maria Jose

AU - Huerta, José María

AU - Guevara, Marcela

AU - Lasheras, Cristina

AU - Vineis, Paolo

AU - Vermeulen, Roel

AU - Zamora-Ros, Raul

AU - Casabonne, Delphine

PY - 2025/12/28

Y1 - 2025/12/28

N2 - Background: Existing epidemiological evidence regarding the potential role of (poly)phenol intake in lymphoma development is limited. Methods: We investigated the associations between the intake of total and individual classes and subclasses of (poly)phenols and the risk of lymphoma, including main frequent subtypes in the EPIC cohort using multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models. Results: During a mean 14-year follow-up (time frame: from 1990–1994 to 2008–2013), 2394 incident lymphoma cases were diagnosed from a total of 367,463 individuals. No significant associations were observed between total intakes of (poly)phenols, flavonoids, and phenolic acids and overall lymphoma risk. Total (poly)phenols, phenolic acid and hydroxycinnamic acid intakes were positively associated with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) risk [HRlog2 = 2.56 (95% confidence interval: 1.27–5.16); 1.81 (1.14–2.87); and 1.48 (1.03–2.12), respectively]. Conversely, isoflavone intakes was inversely associated with risk of overall lymphoma [HRlog2 = 0.96 (0.93–0.99)], and non-Hodgkin lymphoma [HRlog2 = 0.95 (0.92–0.99)] and mature B-cell lymphoma [HRlog2 = 0.96 (0.92–0.99)], and flavone intakes with risk of multiple myeloma/plasma cell neoplasm [HRlog2 = 0.75 (0.60–0.95)]. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that isoflavone intakes may reduce the risk of overall lymphoma and specific lymphoma subtypes, while phenolic acids, particularly hydroxycinnamic acids might increase the risk of HL.

AB - Background: Existing epidemiological evidence regarding the potential role of (poly)phenol intake in lymphoma development is limited. Methods: We investigated the associations between the intake of total and individual classes and subclasses of (poly)phenols and the risk of lymphoma, including main frequent subtypes in the EPIC cohort using multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models. Results: During a mean 14-year follow-up (time frame: from 1990–1994 to 2008–2013), 2394 incident lymphoma cases were diagnosed from a total of 367,463 individuals. No significant associations were observed between total intakes of (poly)phenols, flavonoids, and phenolic acids and overall lymphoma risk. Total (poly)phenols, phenolic acid and hydroxycinnamic acid intakes were positively associated with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) risk [HRlog2 = 2.56 (95% confidence interval: 1.27–5.16); 1.81 (1.14–2.87); and 1.48 (1.03–2.12), respectively]. Conversely, isoflavone intakes was inversely associated with risk of overall lymphoma [HRlog2 = 0.96 (0.93–0.99)], and non-Hodgkin lymphoma [HRlog2 = 0.95 (0.92–0.99)] and mature B-cell lymphoma [HRlog2 = 0.96 (0.92–0.99)], and flavone intakes with risk of multiple myeloma/plasma cell neoplasm [HRlog2 = 0.75 (0.60–0.95)]. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that isoflavone intakes may reduce the risk of overall lymphoma and specific lymphoma subtypes, while phenolic acids, particularly hydroxycinnamic acids might increase the risk of HL.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105017921764

U2 - 10.1038/s41416-025-03228-6

DO - 10.1038/s41416-025-03228-6

M3 - Article

C2 - 41044175

AN - SCOPUS:105017921764

SN - 0007-0920

VL - 133

SP - 1864

EP - 1871

JO - British Journal of Cancer

JF - British Journal of Cancer

IS - 12

ER -

Intake of total, classes, and subclasses of (poly)phenols and risk of lymphoid neoplasms: a prospective analysis in the EPIC cohort

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Embargoed Document

Fingerprint

Cite this