title: Flavan-3-ols consumption and cancer risk: A meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies.
abstract: Although numerous in vitro studies and animal model data have suggested that flavan-3-ols, the most common subclass of flavonoids in the diet, may exert protective effects against cancer, epidemiologic studies have reported inconclusive results for the association between flavan-3-ols intake and cancer risk. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies to investigate the preventive effects of flavan-3-ols on various types of cancers. A total of 43 epidemiologic studies, consisting of 25 case-control and 18 prospective cohort studies, were included. A significant inverse association was shown between flavan-3-ols intake and the risk of overall cancer (relative risk (RR) 0.935, 95%CI: 0.891-0.981). When cancer types were separately analyzed, a statistically significant protective effect of flavan-3-ols consumption was observed in rectal cancer (RR 0.838, 95%CI: 0.733-0.958), oropharyngeal and laryngeal cancer (RR 0.759, 95%CI: 0.581-0.993), breast (RR 0.885, 95%CI: 0.790-0.991) in case-control studies and stomach cancer in women (RR 0.633, 95%CI: 0.468-0.858). Our analysis indicates the potential benefits of flavan-3-ols in cancer prevention.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Resources Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, China.|Institute of Preventive Genomic Medicine, Xi'an 710069, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Resources Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, China.|Institute of Preventive Genomic Medicine, Xi'an 710069, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Resources Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, China.|Institute of Preventive Genomic Medicine, Xi'an 710069, China.
authors.forename: Hongjuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Resources Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, China.|Institute of Preventive Genomic Medicine, Xi'an 710069, China.
authors.forename: Erfei
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Resources Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, China.|Institute of Preventive Genomic Medicine, Xi'an 710069, China.
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Resources Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, China.|Institute of Preventive Genomic Medicine, Xi'an 710069, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Resources Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, China.|Institute of Preventive Genomic Medicine, Xi'an 710069, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012306:Risk
chemical_list: D005419:Flavonoids; C404987:flavan-3-ol
keywords: breast cancer; cancer; colorectal cancer; flavan-3-ols; meta-analysis