Abstract
Polyphenols may play a chemopreventive role in colorectal cancer (CRC); however, epidemiological evidence supporting a role for intake of individual polyphenol classes, other than flavonoids is insufficient. We evaluated the association between dietary intakes of total and individual classes and subclasses of polyphenols and CRC risk and its main subsites, colon and rectum, within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. The cohort included 476,160 men and women from 10 European countries. During a mean follow-up of 14 years, there were 5991 incident CRC cases, of which 3897 were in the colon and 2094 were in the rectum. Polyphenol intake was estimated using validated centre/country specific dietary questionnaires and the Phenol-Explorer database. In multivariable-adjusted Cox regression models, a doubling in total dietary polyphenol intake was not associated with CRC risk in women (HRlog2 = 1.06, 95% CI 0.99–1.14) or in men (HRlog2 = 0.97, 95% CI 0.90–1.05), respectively. Phenolic acid intake, highly correlated with coffee consumption, was inversely associated with colon cancer in men (HRlog2 = 0.91, 95% CI 0.85–0.97) and positively associated with rectal cancer in women (HRlog2 = 1.10, 95% CI 1.02–1.19); although associations did not exceed the Bonferroni threshold for significance. Intake of other polyphenol classes was not related to colorectal, colon or rectal cancer risks. Our study suggests a possible inverse association between phenolic acid intake and colon cancer risk in men and positive with rectal cancer risk in women.
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Abbreviations
- BMI:
-
Body mass index
- CRC:
-
Colorectal cancer
- CI:
-
Confidence interval
- EPIC:
-
European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition
- HR:
-
Hazard ratio
- ICD:
-
International classification of diseases
- NOS:
-
Not otherwise specified
- SD:
-
Standard deviation
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Acknowledgements
We thank Mr Bertrand Hémon for his valuable help with the EPIC database. We also acknowledge the Northern Sweden Diet Database.
Funding
This study was supported by the Institut National du Cancer, Paris (INCa Grants 2011-105). The coordination of EPIC is financially supported by the European Commission (DG-SANCO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The national cohorts are supported by Danish Cancer Society (Denmark); Ligue Contre le Cancer, Institut Gustave Roussy, Mutuelle Générale de l’Education Nationale, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) (France); German Cancer Aid, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Deutsche Krebshilfe, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum and Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany); the Hellenic Health Foundation (Greece); Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro-AIRC-Italy and National Research Council (Italy); Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports (VWS), Netherlands Cancer Registry (NKR), LK Research Funds, Dutch Prevention Funds, Dutch ZON (Zorg Onderzoek Nederland), World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), Statistics Netherlands (The Netherlands); European Research Council (ERC-2009-AdG 232997); Health Research Fund (FIS): PI13/00061 to Granada; PI13/01162 to EPIC-Murcia, Regional Governments of Andalucía, Asturias, Basque Country, Murcia and Navarra, AGAUR - Generalitat de Catalunya (exp. 2014 SGR 726), The Health Research Funds RD12/0036/0018, cofunded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) “A way to build Europe (Spain); the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE), Swedish Cancer Society, Swedish Research Council (VR) and County Councils of Skåne and Västerbotten (Sweden); Cancer Research UK (14136 to EPIC-Norfolk; C570/A16491 and C8221/A19170 to EPIC-Oxford), Medical Research Council (1000143 to EPIC-Norfolk, MR/M012190/1 to EPIC-Oxford) (United Kingdom). RZ-R was supported by the “Miguel Servet” program (CP15/00100) from the Institute of Health Carlos III and European Social Fund (ESF).
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Zamora-Ros, R., Cayssials, V., Jenab, M. et al. Dietary intake of total polyphenol and polyphenol classes and the risk of colorectal cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Eur J Epidemiol 33, 1063–1075 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-018-0408-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-018-0408-6