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Flavonoids and bladder cancer risk

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Abstract

Purpose

Flavonoids have drawn attention because of their antioxidant capacity and anti-carcinogenic effect in various types of cancer. A limited number of studies has investigated their potential effect on the risk of bladder cancer, with inconsistent results.

Methods

We analyzed data from an Italian case–control study including 690 incident bladder cancer cases and 665 controls admitted to the same network of hospitals for acute, non-neoplastic, non tobacco-related diseases. Subjects were interviewed using a reproducible and validated food-frequency questionnaire. We applied data on food and beverage composition to estimate the intake of isoflavones, anthocyanidins, flavan-3-ols, flavanones, flavones and flavonols. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) through multiple logistic regression models, including terms for potential confounding factors, including tobacco smoking and total energy intake.

Results

We found an inverse association between isoflavones (OR for the highest compared to the lowest quintile of intake = 0.56, 95% CI 0.37–0.84) and flavones (OR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.44–0.95) and bladder cancer. Non-significant inverse association was found for flavan-3-ols (OR = 0.70), flavonols (OR = 0.85) and total flavonoids (OR = 0.76). The results were consistent for non-muscle-invasive and muscle-invasive bladder cancers.

Conclusions

Our data indicate an inverse association between isoflavones and flavones with respect to bladder cancer risk.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) (My First AIRC Grant No. 17070). V.R. was supported by a fellowship from the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research (FIRC No. 18107). We also acknowledge the Lega Italiana per la Lotta contro i Tumori Sede Centrale for the contribution on the 5/1000 Project, 2015.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via A. Vanzetti 5, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Marta Rossi & Carlo La Vecchia

  2. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Agriculture Technology, Food Technology and Nutrition, Alexander Technological Educational Institution of Thessaloniki, P.C. 57400, Sindos, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Panagiota Strikoudi

  3. Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology, and Medical Statistics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 75 M. Asias Street, 115 27, Goudi, Athens, Greece

    Maria-Eleni Spei

  4. Department of Medicine, Università degli Studi di Udine, Via Colugna 50, 33100, Udine, Italy

    Maria Parpinel

  5. Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Via F. Gallini 2, 33081, Aviano (PN), Italy

    Diego Serraino

  6. Unit of Epidemiology, Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione G. Pascale, Via M. Semmola 1, 80131, Napoli, Italy

    Maurizio Montella

  7. Section of Oncologic, Clinic and General Pathology, Department of Biomedical & Biotechnological Sciences, Università degli Studi di Catania, Via Santa Sofia 97, 95123, Catania, Italy

    Massimo Libra

  8. Unit of Medical Statistics and Biometry, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Via G. Venezian 1, 20133, Milano, Italy

    Valentina Rosato

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  1. Marta Rossi
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  3. Maria-Eleni Spei
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  4. Maria Parpinel
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  8. Carlo La Vecchia
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  9. Valentina Rosato
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Correspondence to Valentina Rosato.

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Rossi, M., Strikoudi, P., Spei, ME. et al. Flavonoids and bladder cancer risk. Cancer Causes Control 30, 527–535 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-019-01158-2

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