Cruciferous Vegetable Consumption and Stomach Cancer: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association between regular cruciferous vegetable intake and stomach cancer.

Methods: A hospital-based, case-control study was conducted at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, NY, which included 292 stomach cancer patients and 1168 cancer-free controls recruited between 1992 and 1998 as part of the Patient Epidemiology Data System (PEDS). Dietary and other epidemiologic and confounding variables were collected by questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were utilized to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for associations between usual pre-diagnostic cruciferous vegetable intake and stomach cancer, with adjustment for other stomach cancer risk factors and dietary characteristics.

Results: We observed strong inverse associations between stomach cancer and highest versus lowest intakes of total cruciferous vegetables (OR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.42–0.83), raw cruciferous vegetables (OR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.38–0.73), raw broccoli (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.43–0.86), raw cauliflower (OR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.35–0.73), and Brussels sprouts (OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.48–0.91).

Conclusions: These data suggest that consuming raw cruciferous vegetables may be associated with a lower odds of stomach cancer, even after considering other dietary characteristics.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by funding from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health [grant number R25CA181003] and by Roswell Park Cancer Institute and National Cancer Institute (NCI) [grant number P30CA016056].