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Flavonoid intake and liver cancer: a case–control study in Greece

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Abstract

In the context of a case–control study undertaken in Greece, we examined the role of six flavonoid classes in the etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), by viral status, and of cholangiocarcinoma (CAC). Data and blood samples were collected between 1995 and 1998. Information about dietary intakes and covariates, including chronic infection with hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) virus, were available for 250 HBV and/or HCV positive HCC cases, 83 HBV and HCV negative HCC cases, six CAC cases, and 360 hospital controls. In logistic regression models including gender, age, education, tobacco smoking, and total energy intake, there were no distinct patterns with respect to either HCC virus positive and HCC virus negative in relation to total flavonoids or any class of flavonoids, with the exception of flavones. Flavone intake, mostly derived from spinach and peppers, was inversely associated with both virus positive (P-trend, 0.049) and virus negative (P-trend, 0.084) HCC. There was also a suggestion of an inverse association of CAC with flavan-3-ols, anthocyanidins, and total flavonoids which, however, has to be taken with due caution on account of the small number of cases of this rare tumor. We conclude that flavones may be inversely associated with HCC risk, irrespective of its dominant etiology (viral or non viral).

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the “Kapodistrias 2004–2005” program of the National and Kapodistian University of Athens, Greece. The work of MR was supported by the UICC/ICRETT and the Regione Lombardia/INGENIO Program. CLV is a Senior Fellow at the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The authors wish to thank Ms. I. Garimoldi for editorial assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of Athens, 75 M. Asias Street, Goudi, 115 27, Athens, Greece

    Pagona Lagiou, Areti Lagiou, Anastasia Tzonou & Dimitrios Trichopoulos

  2. Dipartimento di Epidemiologia Generale, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy

    Marta Rossi & Carlo La Vecchia

  3. Faculty of Health and Welfare Professions, Athens Technological Institute, 274 Thivon Avenue, Athens, Greece

    Areti Lagiou

  4. Istituto di Statistica Medica e Biometria “G. A. Maccacaro”, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Carlo La Vecchia

  5. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Dimitrios Trichopoulos

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  1. Pagona Lagiou
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  2. Marta Rossi
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  3. Areti Lagiou
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  5. Carlo La Vecchia
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  6. Dimitrios Trichopoulos
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Correspondence to Marta Rossi.

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Lagiou, P., Rossi, M., Lagiou, A. et al. Flavonoid intake and liver cancer: a case–control study in Greece. Cancer Causes Control 19, 813–818 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-008-9144-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-008-9144-7

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