Maternal dietary risk factors in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (United States).
OBJECTIVE
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common childhood cancer, and the second most common cause of mortality in children aged 1-14 years. Recent research has established that the disease can originate in utero, and thus maternal diet may be an important risk factor for ALL.


METHODS
The Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study is a population-based case-control study of risk factors for childhood leukemia, including maternal diet. Cases (n = 138) and controls (n = 138) were matched on sex, date of birth, mother's race, Hispanicity, and county of residence at birth. Maternal dietary intake in the 12 months prior to pregnancy was obtained by a 76-item food frequency questionnaire.


RESULTS
Consumption of the vegetables (OR = 0.53; 95% CI, 0.33-0.85; p = 0.008), protein sources (OR = 0.40; 95% CI, 0.18-0.90, p = 0.03), and fruits (OR = 0.71; 95% CI, 0.49-1.04; p = 0.08) food groups were inversely associated with ALL. Among nutrients, consumption of provitamin A carotenoids (OR = 0.65, 95% CI, 0.42-1.01; p = 0.05), and the antioxidant glutathione (OR = 0.42; 95% CI, 0.16-1.10; p = 0.08) were inversely associated with ALL.


CONCLUSIONS
Maternal dietary factors, specifically the consumption of vegetables, fruits, protein sources and related nutrients, may play a role in the etiology of ALL. Dietary carotenoids and glutathione appear to be important contributors to this effect.
School of Public Health, 419 Warren Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, USA. cjensen@berkeley.edu
Christopher D
CD
Jensen
Gladys
G
Block
Patricia
P
Buffler
Xiaomei
X
Ma
Steve
S
Selvin
Stacy
S
Month
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012307:Risk Factors; D014675:Vegetables
D004044:Dietary Proteins