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Consumption of sugary foods and drinks and risk of endometrial cancer

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Abstract

Consumption of foods high in sugar promotes insulin production, which has been linked to endometrial carcinogenesis. We evaluated the impact of dietary intake of sugary foods and beverages, as well as added sugar and total sugar on endometrial cancer risk in a population-based case–control study, including 424 cases and 398 controls. Participants completed an interview and food frequency questionnaire, and provided self-recorded waist and hip measurements. Women in the highest quartile of added sugar intake had significantly increased endometrial cancer risk (OR = 1.84, 95 % CI 1.16–2.92). Among women with waist-to-hip ratio ≥0.85, risk was significantly higher for the highest versus lowest tertile of added sugar intakes (OR = 2.50, 95 % CI 1.38–4.52). The association with added sugar also became stronger when analyses were restricted to never users of hormone replacement therapy (OR = 2.03; 95 % CI 1.27–3.26, for highest versus lowest tertile). There was little evidence of effect modification by body mass index or physical activity. Given the high prevalence of intake of sugary foods and drinks in Western populations, additional research is warranted to confirm our findings on endometrial cancer.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the research staff who were involved in this study at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (Sharon Bayuga, Katherine Pulick, Silvia Brendel, Nora Geraghty, June Kittredge, Elinor Miller, Louise Salant, Mathilde Saxon, Elizabeth Ward, Doreen Wass, Kay Yoon), the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services personnel (Sandy Wilcox, Tara Blando, Joan Kay, Betsy Kohler, Kevin Masterson, and Helen Weiss), as well as all the participants who generously donated their time to the study. This work was funded by the National Cancer Institute (K07 CA095666, R01CA83918, K22CA138563, and P30CA072720).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 195 Little Albany St., New Brunswick, NJ, 08903, USA

    Melony G. King, Urmila Chandran, Kitaw Demissie, Shou-En Lu & Elisa V. Bandera

  2. School of Public Health, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA

    Melony G. King, Urmila Chandran, Kitaw Demissie, Shou-En Lu & Elisa V. Bandera

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Sara H. Olson

  4. Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health and Department of Population Health, Langone School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Niyati Parekh

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  1. Melony G. King
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Correspondence to Elisa V. Bandera.

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King, M.G., Chandran, U., Olson, S.H. et al. Consumption of sugary foods and drinks and risk of endometrial cancer. Cancer Causes Control 24, 1427–1436 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-013-0222-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-013-0222-0

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