An international case-control study of adult diet and brain tumor risk: a histology-specific analysis by food group.
OBJECTIVE
Existing studies of diet and adult brain tumors have been limited by small numbers in histology-specific subgroups. Dietary data from an international collaborative case-control study on adult brain tumors were used to evaluate associations between histology-specific risk and consumption of specific food groups.


METHODS
The study included 1548 cases diagnosed between 1984 and 1991 and 2486 control subjects from 8 study centers in 6 countries. Of the 1548 cases, 1185 were gliomas, 332 were meningiomas, and 31 were other tumor types. Dietary consumption was measured as average grams per day.


RESULTS
We found inverse associations between some vegetable groups and glioma risk, the strongest for yellow-orange vegetables (odds ratio [OR], 0.7, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.5-0.9 for the 4th vs. 1st quartile of consumption, p for trend<0.001), and the association was limited to specific glioma subtypes. There was no association with cured meat. Non-cured meat was associated with a modest increase in glioma risk (OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0-1.7 for 4th quartile vs. 1st quartile, p for trend=0.01). We also found positive associations between egg, grain, and citrus fruit consumption and glioma but not meningioma risk.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests that selected dietary food groups may be associated with adult gliomas and its subtypes but not meningiomas.
Terry
Mary Beth
MB
Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. mt146@columbia.edu
Howe
Geoffrey
G
Pogoda
Janice M
JM
Zhang
Fang Fang
FF
Ahlbom
Anders
A
Choi
Won
W
Giles
Graham G
GG
Little
Julian
J
Lubin
Flora
F
Menegoz
Francoise
F
Ryan
Philip
P
Schlehofer
Brigitte
B
Preston-Martin
Susan
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002957:Citrus; D004032:Diet; D002523:Edible Grain; D004531:Eggs; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat; D008579:Meningioma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D014675:Vegetables; D055815:Young Adult