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Dietary fiber intake and ovarian cancer risk: a prospective cohort study

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Abstract

There is some evidence from case–control studies that dietary fiber intake might be inversely associated with ovarian cancer risk, but there are limited prospective data. Therefore, we examined ovarian cancer risk in association with intake of dietary fiber in a prospective cohort of 49,613 Canadian women enrolled in the National Breast Screening Study (NBSS), who completed a self-administered food frequency questionnaire between 1980 and 1985. Linkages to national mortality and cancer databases yielded data on deaths and cancer incidence, with follow-up ending between 1998 and 2000. Data from the food frequency questionnaire were used to estimate intake of total dietary fiber, of fiber fractions, and of fiber from various sources. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between energy-adjusted quartile levels of fiber intake and ovarian cancer risk. During a mean 16.4 years of follow-up, we observed 264 incident ovarian cancer cases. Total dietary fiber and fiber fractions were not associated with ovarian cancer risk in this study population.

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Acknowledgments

Funded in part by the National Cancer Institute of Canada.

We thank Statistics Canada, the provincial and territorial Registrars of Vital Statistics, and the Cancer Registry directors for their assistance in making the cancer incidence and mortality data available.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences, Montclair State University, 1 Normal Avenue, University Hall, Room 4171, Montclair, NJ, 07043, USA

    Stephanie A. N. Silvera

  2. Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Meera Jain & Anthony B. Miller

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Geoffrey R. Howe

  4. Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Room 1301, New York, 10461, USA

    Thomas E. Rohan

Authors
  1. Stephanie A. N. Silvera
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  2. Meera Jain
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  3. Geoffrey R. Howe
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  4. Anthony B. Miller
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  5. Thomas E. Rohan
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Correspondence to Stephanie A. N. Silvera.

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Silvera, S.A.N., Jain, M., Howe, G.R. et al. Dietary fiber intake and ovarian cancer risk: a prospective cohort study. Cancer Causes Control 18, 335–341 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-006-0107-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-006-0107-6

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