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Plasma carotenoids, vitamin C, tocopherols, and retinol and the risk of breast cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort

Bakker MF 1 , Peeters PH , Klaasen VM , Bueno-de-Mesquita HB , Jansen EH , Ros MM Show all authors , Travier N , Olsen A , Tjønneland A , Overvad K , Rinaldi S , Romieu I , Brennan P , Boutron-Ruault MC , Perquier F , Cadeau C , Boeing H , Aleksandrova K , Kaaks R , Kühn T , Trichopoulou A , Lagiou P , Trichopoulos D , Vineis P , Krogh V , Panico S , Masala G , Tumino R , Weiderpass E , Skeie G , Lund E , Quirós JR , Ardanaz E , Navarro C , Amiano P , Sánchez MJ , Buckland G , Ericson U , Sonestedt E , Johansson M 2 , Sund M , Travis RC , Key TJ , Khaw KT 3 , Wareham N 4 , Riboli E , van Gils CH 5

Affiliations 

  • 1 Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care and m.f.bakker-8@umcutrecht.nl
  • 2 International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France; Department of Biobank Research and
  • 3 University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; and
  • 4 MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • 5 Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care and
Am J Clin Nutr, 2016 Feb;103(2):454-64.
PMID: 26791185 DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.114.101659

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Carotenoids and vitamin C are thought to be associated with reduced cancer risk because of their antioxidative capacity.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the associations of plasma carotenoid, retinol, tocopherol, and vitamin C concentrations and risk of breast cancer.

DESIGN: In a nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort, 1502 female incident breast cancer cases were included, with an oversampling of premenopausal (n = 582) and estrogen receptor-negative (ER-) cases (n = 462). Controls (n = 1502) were individually matched to cases by using incidence density sampling. Prediagnostic samples were analyzed for α-carotene, β-carotene, lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, retinol, α-tocopherol, γ-tocopherol, and vitamin C. Breast cancer risk was computed according to hormone receptor status and age at diagnosis (proxy for menopausal status) by using conditional logistic regression and was further stratified by smoking status, alcohol consumption, and body mass index (BMI). All statistical tests were 2-sided.

RESULTS: In quintile 5 compared with quintile 1, α-carotene (OR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.39, 0.98) and β-carotene (OR: 0.41; 95% CI: 0.26, 0.65) were inversely associated with risk of ER- breast tumors. The other analytes were not statistically associated with ER- breast cancer. For estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) tumors, no statistically significant associations were found. The test for heterogeneity between ER- and ER+ tumors was statistically significant only for β-carotene (P-heterogeneity = 0.03). A higher risk of breast cancer was found for retinol in relation to ER-/progesterone receptor-negative tumors (OR: 2.37; 95% CI: 1.20, 4.67; P-heterogeneity with ER+/progesterone receptor positive = 0.06). We observed no statistically significant interaction between smoking, alcohol, or BMI and all investigated plasma analytes (based on tertile distribution).

CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that higher concentrations of plasma β-carotene and α-carotene are associated with lower breast cancer risk of ER- tumors.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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