Dietary carotenoids and risk of colorectal cancer in a pooled analysis of 11 cohort studies.
Dietary carotenoids have been hypothesized to protect against epithelial cancers. The authors analyzed the associations between intakes of specific carotenoids (alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein + zeaxanthin, and lycopene) and risk of colorectal cancer using the primary data from 11 cohort studies carried out in North America and Europe. Carotenoid intakes were estimated from food frequency questionnaires administered at baseline in each study. During 6-20 years of follow-up between 1980 and 2003, 7,885 incident cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed among 702,647 participants. The authors calculated study-specific multivariate relative risks and then combined them using a random-effects model. In general, intakes of specific carotenoids were not associated with colorectal cancer risk. The pooled multivariate relative risks of colorectal cancer comparing the highest quintile of intake with the lowest ranged from 0.92 for lutein + zeaxanthin to 1.04 for lycopene; only for lutein + zeaxanthin intake was the result borderline statistically significant (95% confidence interval: 0.84, 1.00). The associations observed were generally similar across studies, for both sexes, and for colon cancer and rectal cancer. These pooled data did not suggest that carotenoids play an important role in the etiology of colorectal cancer.
Männistö
Satu
S
National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
Yaun
Shiaw-Shyuan
SS
Hunter
David J
DJ
Spiegelman
Donna
D
Adami
Hans-Olov
HO
Albanes
Demetrius
D
van den Brandt
Piet A
PA
Buring
Julie E
JE
Cerhan
James R
JR
Colditz
Graham A
GA
Freudenheim
Jo L
JL
Fuchs
Charles S
CS
Giovannucci
Edward
E
Goldbohm
R Alexandra
RA
Harnack
Lisa
L
Leitzmann
Michael
M
McCullough
Marjorie L
ML
Miller
Anthony B
AB
Rohan
Thomas E
TE
Schatzkin
Arthur
A
Virtamo
Jarmo
J
Willett
Walter C
WC
Wolk
Alicja
A
Zhang
Shumin M
SM
Smith-Warner
Stephanie A
SA
D002338:Carotenoids / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D004032:Diet; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009656:North America / Q000453:epidemiology; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012306:Risk
D002338:Carotenoids