Premium
Chinese nonmedicinal herbal diet and risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A population‐based case‐control study
Author(s) -
Lin Chuyang,
Cao SuMei,
Chang Ellen T.,
Liu Zhiwei,
Cai Yonglin,
Zhang Zhe,
Chen Guomin,
Huang QiHong,
Xie ShangHang,
Zhang Yu,
Yun Jingping,
Jia WeiHua,
Zheng Yuming,
Liao Jian,
Chen Yufeng,
Lin Longde,
Liu Qing,
Ernberg Ingemar,
Huang Guangwu,
Zeng Yi,
Zeng YiXin,
Adami HansOlov,
Ye Weimin
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.32458
Subject(s) - medicine , traditional medicine , herbal tea , odds ratio , astragalus , population , nasopharyngeal carcinoma , phytotherapy , environmental health , traditional chinese medicine , biology , alternative medicine , pathology , antioxidant , radiation therapy , biochemistry
Background An association between a nonmedicinal herbal diet and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has often been hypothesized but never thoroughly investigated. Methods This study enrolled a total of 2469 patients with incident NPC and 2559 population controls from parts of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces in southern China between 2010 and 2014. Questionnaire information was collected on the intake of traditional herbal tea and herbal soup as well as the specific herbal plants used in soups and other potentially confounding lifestyle factors. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the NPC risk in association with herbal tea and soup intake. Results Ever consumption of herbal tea was not associated with NPC risk (OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.91‐1.17). An inverse association was observed for NPC among ever drinkers of herbal soup (OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.67‐0.90) but without any monotonic trend with an increasing frequency or duration of herbal soup consumption. Inverse associations with NPC risk were detected with 9 herbal plants used in herbal soup, including Ziziphus jujuba , Fructus lycii , Codonopsis pilosula , Astragalus membranaceus , Semen coicis , Smilax glabra , Phaseolus calcaratus , Morinda officinalis , and Atractylodes macrocephala (OR range, 0.31‐0.79). Conclusions Consuming herbal soups including specific plants, but not herbal tea, was inversely associated with NPC. If replicated, these results might provide potential for NPC prevention in endemic areas.