Cruciferous vegetables and cancer risk in a network of case-control studies.
BACKGROUND
Cruciferous vegetables have been suggested to protect against various cancers, though the issue is open to discussion. To further understand their role, we analyzed data from a network of case-control studies conducted in Italy and Switzerland.


METHODS
The studies included a total of 1468 cancers of the oral cavity/pharynx, 505 of the esophagus, 230 of the stomach, 2390 of the colorectum, 185 of the liver, 326 of the pancreas, 852 of the larynx, 3034 of the breast, 367 of the endometrium, 1031 of the ovary, 1294 of the prostate, 767 of the kidney, and 11,492 controls. All cancers were incident, histologically confirmed; controls were subjects admitted to the same network of hospitals as cases for a wide spectrum of acute nonneoplastic conditions.


RESULTS
The multivariate odds ratio (OR) for consumption of cruciferous vegetables at least once a week as compared with no/occasional consumption was significantly reduced for cancer of the oral cavity/pharynx (OR=0.83), esophagus (OR=0.72), colorectum (OR=0.83), breast (OR=0.83), and kidney (OR=0.68). The OR was below unity, but not significant, for stomach (OR=0.90), liver (OR=0.72), pancreatic (OR=0.90), laryngeal (OR=0.84), endometrial (OR=0.93), ovarian (OR=0.91), and prostate (OR=0.87) cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
This large series of studies provides additional evidence of a favorable effect of cruciferous vegetables on several common cancers.
Department of Epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri', Milan. Electronic address: cristina.bosetti@marionegri.it.
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Bosetti
Department of Epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri', Milan.
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Filomeno
Department of Food Science and Microbiology, Division of Human Nutrition, University of Milan, Milan.
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Riso
Unit of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Aviano (Pordenone), Italy.
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Polesel
Cancer Epidemiology Unit and Registre Vaudois des Tumeurs, Institut universitaire de médecine sociale et préventive, Lausanne, Switzerland.
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Levi
Unit of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Aviano (Pordenone), Italy.
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Talamini
Unit of Epidemiology, Istituto Tumori 'Fondazione Pascale', Naples, Italy.
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Montella
Department of Epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri', Milan.
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Negri
International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France.
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Franceschi
Department of Epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri', Milan; Department of Occupational Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
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La Vecchia
D000368:Aged; D019607:Brassicaceae; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology; D014675:Vegetables