title: Organic food consumption and the incidence of cancer in a large prospective study of women in the United Kingdom.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Organically produced foods are less likely than conventionally produced foods to contain pesticide residues.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the hypothesis that eating organic food may reduce the risk of soft tissue sarcoma, breast cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other common cancers in a large prospective study of 623 080 middle-aged UK women. Women reported their consumption of organic food and were followed for cancer incidence over the next 9.3 years. Cox regression models were used to estimate adjusted relative risks for cancer incidence by the reported frequency of consumption of organic foods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At baseline, 30%, 63% and 7% of women reported never, sometimes, or usually/always eating organic food, respectively. Consumption of organic food was not associated with a reduction in the incidence of all cancer (n=53 769 cases in total) (RR for usually/always vs never=1.03, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.99-1.07), soft tissue sarcoma (RR=1.37, 95% CI: 0.82-2.27), or breast cancer (RR=1.09, 95% CI: 1.02-1.15), but was associated for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (RR=0.79, 95% CI: 0.65-0.96).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this large prospective study there was little or no decrease in the incidence of cancer associated with consumption of organic food, except possibly for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK.
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Bradbury
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balkwill
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Care and Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.affiliation: Worldwide Epidemiology, GSK, Uxbridge UB11 1BT, UK.
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Roddam
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK.
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Reeves
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Key
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Beral
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pirie
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D058870:Food, Organic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D057566:Self Report; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology