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Diet diversity and the risk of squamous cell esophageal cancer
Author(s) -
Lucenteforte Ersilia,
Garavello Werner,
Bosetti Cristina,
Talamini Renato,
Zambon Paola,
Franceschi Silvia,
Negri Eva,
La Vecchia Carlo
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.23761
Subject(s) - odds ratio , medicine , esophageal cancer , confidence interval , quartile , epidemiology , cancer , case control study , physiology
A varied diet may have a favorable role against digestive tract cancers. We analyzed the relationship between diet diversity ( i.e. measured by the number of different foods consumed at least once per week) and the risk of esophageal cancer. We considered data from a case–control study conducted between 1992 and 1997 in northern Italy on 304 squamous cell esophageal cancer cases below age 78 years and 743 controls admitted to hospital for acute, nonneoplastic conditions, unrelated to tobacco or alcohol consumption. There was a significant inverse association for total diet diversity: the multivariate odds ratio (OR), adjusted for age, sex, area of residence, education, tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking and non‐alcohol energy intake was 0.42 (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.25–0.71) for subjects in the highest versus those in the lowest quartile of diversity. Inverse relations were also found for diversity within vegetables (OR = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.21–0.55) and fruits (OR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.33–0.80). No significant association was found for meat and cereal diversity. These results add epidemiological support to the dietary guidelines recommending a more varied diet, particularly in fruit and vegetables, for esophageal cancer prevention. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.