Dietary vitamins E and C and prostate cancer risk.
BACKGROUND
The epidemiologic evidence on dietary vitamins E and C and prostate cancer is controversial. Therefore, a case-control study was carried out to investigate the role of dietary intake of vitamins E and C in the etiology of prostate cancer.


METHODS
Cases were 1 294 men with incident, histologically confirmed prostate cancer, admitted to the major teaching and general hospitals of five Italian areas between 1991 and 2002. Controls were 1 451 men admitted for acute, non-neoplastic conditions to the same hospitals. Information on dietary habits and nutrient intake was elicited using a validated food frequency questionnaire including 78 food groups and recipes. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for increasing levels of vitamin intake were estimated after allowance for total energy intake and other confounding factors.


RESULTS
Vitamin E showed a significant inverse association with prostate cancer (OR = 0.78 for the highest versus the lowest tertile of intake, 95% CI: 0.58-0.96; p-value for trend = 0.02), whereas for vitamin C the inverse association was of borderline statistical significance (OR = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.65-1.08). Results were consistent in strata of age, body mass index, and family history of prostate cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study shows an inverse association between dietary intake of vitamins E and prostate cancer incidence. This finding is likely to reflect the influence of diet itself since supplementation or food fortification with vitamins is rare in the Italian population.
Bidoli
Ettore
E
Unità di Epidemiologia e Biostatistica, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, IRCCS, Aviano, (PN), Italy. epidemiology@cro.it
Talamini
Renato
R
Zucchetto
Antonella
A
Bosetti
Cristina
C
Negri
Eva
E
Lenardon
Oliviero
O
Maso
Luigino Dal
LD
Polesel
Jerry
J
Montella
Maurizio
M
Franceschi
Silvia
S
Serraino
Diego
D
La Vecchia
Carlo
C
D000368:Aged; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004032:Diet; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D000975:Antioxidants; D014810:Vitamin E; D001205:Ascorbic Acid