Nutrition Support Project

Multiethnic Cohort Study (MEC)

The MEC is a large epidemiological study which follows over 215,000 residents of Hawaiʻi and Los Angeles for development of cancer and other chronic diseases. The study includes men and women of five ethnic groups: Japanese Americans, Native Hawaiians, African Americans, Latinos, and whites.

The NSSR provided support for the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) used to assess dietary exposures among the participants of the Multiethnic Cohort. In addition to the extensive availability of multiple foods in the FFQ, these dietary components have been used to derive hypothetical dietary patterns as part of the NCI originated Dietary Patterns Methods Project. Available to researchers are the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010), Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015), the Alternative HEI-2010 (AHEI-2010), the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and the alternate Mediterranean diet (aMED). Multiple studies have used the MEC data to explore dietary exposures and disease risk.

Examples of manuscripts from MEC and other studies using the MEC (e.g., Obesity Study):

Validation and Comparison of Nutrient Intakes from Two Dietary Questionnaires Developed for the Multiethnic Cohort Study. Wilkens LR, Kang M, Park SY, Sawyer A, Boushey CJ, Au DLM, Paik HY, Le Marchand L, Haiman CA, Kolonel LN, Murphy SP. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2023;123(4):655-663.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2022.09.016. PMID: 36191897.

Changes in diet quality and body weight over 10 years: the Multiethnic Cohort Study. Kang M, Boushey CJ, Shvetsov YB, Setiawan VW, Paik HY, Wilkens LR, Le Marchand L, Park SY. Br J Nutr. 2021;126(9):1389-1397. doi: 10.1017/S000711452100012X. PMID: 33441193.

Diet quality and breast cancer incidence in the Multiethnic Cohort. Dela Cruz R, Park SY, Shvetsov YB, Boushey CJ, Monroe KR, Le Marchand L, Maskarinec G. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2020;74(12):1743-1747. doi: 10.1038/s41430-020-0627-2. PMID: 32286.

Changes in diet quality over 10 years are associated with baseline sociodemographic and lifestyle factors in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. Park SY, Shvetsov YB, Kang M, Setiawan VW, Wilkens LR, Le Marchand L, Boushey CJ. J Nutr. 2020;150(7):1880-1888. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxaa102. PMID: 32338763.

Diet quality association with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease by cirrhosis ctatus: The Multiethnic Cohort. Park SY, Noureddin M, Boushey C, Wilkens LR, Setiawan VW. Curr Dev Nutr. 2020;4(3):nzaa024. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzaa024. PMID: 32190810.

High-quality diets are associated with reduced risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and chronic liver disease: The Multiethnic Cohort. Bogumil D, Park SY, Le Marchand L, Haiman CA, Wilkens LR, Boushey CJ, Setiawan VW. Hepatol Commun. 2019;3(3):437-447. doi: 10.1002/hep4.1313. PMID:30859154.

Alcohol intake and colorectal cancer risk in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. Park SY, Wilkens LR, Setiawan VW, Monroe KR, Haiman CA, Le Marchand L. Am J Epidemiol. 2019;188(1):67-76. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwy208.PMID:30239578.

Testing the predictive validity of the Healthy Eating Index-2015 in the Multiethnic Cohort: Is the score associated with a reduced risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality? Panizza CE, Shvetsov YB, Harmon BE, Wilkens LR, Le Marchand L, Haiman C, Reedy J, Boushey CJ. Nutrients. 2018;10(4):452. doi: 10.3390/nu10040452. PMID: 29621192.