Animal Origin Foods and Colorectal Cancer Risk: A Report From the Shanghai Women's Health Study

Abstract

The association of animal-origin food consumption and cooking patterns with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk was evaluated in a cohort of 73,224 participants of the Shanghai Women's Health Study. After a mean follow-up time of 7.4 yr, 394 incident cases of CRC (colon = 236; rectal = 158) were diagnosed. Overall, no association was found between the risk of CRC and intake of total meat and total fish. Eel ( P _trend = 0.01), shrimp ( P _trend = 0.06), and shellfish ( P _trend = 0.04) consumption were positively associated with CRC risk. High egg intake and high intake of total cholesterol were also related to risk of CRC (RR for the highest vs. lowest quintiles of intake were 1.4 (95% CI = 1.1–2.0) for eggs and 1.6 (95% CI = 1.1–2.3) for cholesterol). Milk intake was inversely associated with the risk of colon cancer ( P _trend = 0.05). Common Chinese cooking practices except the smoking method of cooking were not related to CRC risk. The latter was positively associated with colon cancer (RR = 1.4 for ever vs. never, 95% CI = 1.1–1.9). A possible role of cholesterol and environmental pollution in the etiology of CRC was suggested.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was supported by US PHS grant number R01 CA070867 from the National Cancer Institute. The authors wish to thank all of the participants of the Shanghai Women's Health Study, the study staff in Shanghai, and Ms Bethanie Hull for technical assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.

Notes

^b Adjusted for age and total energy intake.

^a RR is adjusted for age, education, income, survey season, tea consumption, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use, energy intake, and fiber intake.

^b Range of fat intake (g/day). Abbreviations are as follows: Q, quintile; CI, confidence interval.

^a RR is adjusted for age, education, income, survey season, tea consumption, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use, energy intake, and fiber intake. Abbreviations are as follows: Q, quintile, CI, confidence interval.

^b Range of fat intake (mg/day).

^c See Appendix 1, which presents the concentration of cholesterol for each animal-origin food in the food frequency questionnaire.

^a Abbreviation is as follows: CI, confidence interval. RR is adjusted for age, education, income, survey season, tea consumption, and energy intake.

^b Percentage of women who had used each of the cooking methods in the cohort.

^a Abbreviation is as follows: FFQ, food frequency questionnaire.