title: Adolescent and mid-life diet and subsequent risk of thyroid cancer in the NIH-AARP diet and health study.
abstract: Although thyroid cancer is suspected to have a nutritional etiology, prospective studies examining the relationship between diet and thyroid cancer are lacking. During 1996-1997, NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study participants, ages 51-72 years, completed a 37-item food frequency questionnaire about diet at ages 12-13 years (adolescence) and 10 years before baseline (mid-life). Over a median 10 years of follow-up, 325 individuals (143 men and 182 women) were diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for intakes of foods and food groups comparing the highest to the lowest quartiles. Adolescent intakes of chicken/turkey (HR = 1.59, 95% CI: 0.97-2.60; ptrend  < 0.01) and sweet baked goods (HR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.09-2.34; ptrend  = 0.04) were positively associated with thyroid cancer risk, while intake of butter/margarine was inversely associated with risk (HR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.44-0.91; ptrend  < 0.02). Similar to adolescent diet, mid-life intake of sweet baked goods was nonsignificantly associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer (HR = 1.39, 95% CI: 0.96-2.00; ptrend  = 0.11), but intake of butter/margarine was inversely associated with risk (HR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.46-0.95; ptrend  = 0.03). Among men, higher adolescent consumption of canned tuna was positively associated with risk of thyroid cancer (HR = 1.69, 95% CI: 1.01-2.83; ptrend  = 0.03), and greater mid-life intake of broccoli was associated with a twofold increased risk (HR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.13-3.99; ptrend  < 0.01). This large prospective study suggests that several components of the adolescent and mid-life diet, including iodine-rich foods and goitrogens, may influence thyroid cancer risk.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892.
authors.forename: Melissa Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Braganza
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Potischman
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892.|Division of Public Health Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, 63110.
authors.forename: Yikyung
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892.
authors.forename: Frances E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: AARP Research (Retired), AARP, Washington, DC, 20049.
authors.forename: Albert R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Hollenbeck
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892.
authors.forename: Cari M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Kitahara
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.); D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D014481:United States
keywords: adolescence; diet; nutrients; prospective study; thyroid cancer