Sugars, sucrose and colorectal cancer risk: the Fukuoka colorectal cancer study

Figures & data

Table I. Characteristics of colorectal cancer cases and controls.

	Men		Women
Variables	Cases (n = 488)	Controls (n = 504)	Cases (n = 328)	Controls (n = 311)
Age (years), mean (SD)	60.9 (8.8)	59.0 (10.2)	60.0 (9.4)	58.6 (11.4)
Body mass index 10 years before, mean (SD)	23.8 (3.1)	23.2 (3.0)	22.7 (3.3)	22.4 (3.2)
Ever-smoking, %	81.4	80.6	12.8	18.0
Alcohol use, %	77.9	77.4	28.1	29.6
Dietary intake, median (IQR)*
Soft drinks (g/day)	0.34 (0.07–27.25)	0.26 (0.06–24.87)	0.26 (0.09–5.49)	0.25 (0.10–9.65)
Sweetened foods (g/day)	25.75 (10.96–48.42)	25.90 (12.84–47.06)	52.17 (30.39–74.93)	52.47 (30.29–76.95)
Sugars (g/day)	12.63 (5.46–23.36)	12.53 (5.89–21.80)	18.60 (11.75–29.81)	19.78 (12.49–27.46)
Sucrose (g/day)	10.75 (4.61–21.21)	10.14 (4.88–19.61)	16.42 (10.46–26.25)	16.96 (11.05–27.46)
Fructose (g/day)	6.17 (2.70–11.65)	6.11 (2.82–10.77)	8.98 (5.67–14.58)	9.63 (5.98–14.87)

*Dietary intakes were energy-adjusted to 2000 kcal/day.

Abbreviations: IQR = interquartile range; SD = standard deviation.

Table II. Associations of soft drinks, sweetened foods, sugar, sucrose and fructose intakes with colorectal cancer risk*.

	Quintiles of intake
	Q1 (lowest)	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5 (highest)	P trend
Men
Soft drinks
Median (g/day)	0.03	0.08	0.26	14.25	87.96
Cases/controls	95/101	88/101	94/101	110/101	101/100
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	0.92 (0.61–1.40)	0.91 (0.60–1.39)	1.17 (0.77–1.76)	1.16 (0.76–1.77)	0.27
Sweetened foods
Median (g/day)	4.17	15.18	25.95	39.69	72.64
Cases/controls	120/101	76/101	93/101	100/101	99/100
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	0.62 (0.41–0.93)	0.77 (0.51–1.15)	0.92 (0.61–1.39)	0.89 (0.58–1.35)	0.87
Sugars
Median (g/day)	2.50	7.16	12.56	19.94	31.00
Cases/controls	107/101	82/101	92/101	97/101	110/100
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	0.74 (0.49–1.13)	0.91 (0.60–1.38)	0.97 (0.64–1.46)	1.15 (0.75–1.75)	0.31
Sucrose
Median (g/day)	1.93	5.95	10.15	17.51	29.19
Cases/controls	110/101	75/101	106/101	87/101	110/100
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	0.67 (0.44–1.02)	1.00 (0.66–1.49)	0.81 (0.53–1.23)	1.09 (0.71–1.67)	0.50
Fructose
Median (g/day)	1.18	3.57	6.11	9.84	17.55
Cases/controls	105/101	84/101	92/101	91/101	116/100
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	0.77 (0.51–1.17)	0.93 (0.61–1.40)	0.91 (0.60–1.39)	1.26 (0.82–1.92)	0.22
Women
Soft drinks
Median (g/day)	0.05	0.12	0.25	3.91	69.37
Cases/controls	68/63	64/62	59/62	78/62	59/62
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	0.84 (0.50–1.41)	0.75 (0.44–1.28)	1.14 (0.69–1.89)	0.87 (0.51–1.48)	0.90
Sweetened foods
Median (g/day)	17.59	35.57	52.47	70.87	113.51
Cases/controls	63/63	83/62	62/62	50/62	70/62
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	1.45 (0.87–2.39)	1.11 (0.66–1.88)	0.86 (0.50–1.48)	1.32 (0.78–2.23)	0.94
Sugars
Median (g/day)	6.93	14.54	19.78	28.25	40.80
Cases/controls	71/63	69/62	68/62	52/62	68/62
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	1.03 (0.63–1.71)	1.01 (0.61–1.68)	0.80 (0.47–1.36)	1.07 (0.64–1.78)	0.87
Sucrose
Median (g/day)	5.96	12.15	17.02	24.79	36.62
Cases/controls	64/63	74/62	72/62	50/62	68/62
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	1.22 (0.74–2.03)	1.21 (0.72–2.02)	0.86 (0.50–1.47)	1.16 (0.69–1.96)	0.95
Fructose
Median (g/day)	3.35	6.98	9.66	13.76	19.60
Cases/controls	72/63	68/62	70/62	49/62	69/62
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	1.02 (0.61–1.69)	1.06 (0.64–1.76)	0.74 (0.44–1.26)	1.10 (0.66–1.83)	0.88

*Adjusted for age, residence area, job, parental history of colorectal cancer, smoking, alcohol drinking, body mass index 10 years before, leisure-time physical activity, calcium and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Abbreviations: CI = confidence interval; OR = odds ratio.

Table III. Odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of colorectal cancer according to sugar intake stratified by selected covariates in men and women*.

	Tertiles of sugar intake
	T1 (lowest)	T2	T3 (highest)	P trend	P interaction
Men
Smoking^a
Never-smokers
Cases/controls	33/25	28/27	30/46
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	0.90 (0.42–1.96)	0.52 (0.25–1.08)	0.06	0.01
Ever-smokers
Cases/controls	130/143	127/142	140/121
OR (95% CI)	0.65 (0.36–1.16)	0.64 (0.35–1.16)	0.90 (0.49–1.63)	0.08
Alcohol drinking^b
Non-drinkers
Cases/controls	16/29	27/30	65/55
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	2.01 (0.87–4.63)	2.45 (1.18–5.12)	0.08	0.02
Drinkers
Cases/controls	147/139	128/139	105/112
OR (95% CI)	2.25 (1.15–4.41)	1.90 (0.97–3.74)	2.00 (1.00–4.00)	0.56
Body mass index ^c
<25 kg/m^2
Cases/controls	108/129	101/124	118/125
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	1.09 (0.74–1.61)	1.25 (0.85–1.85)	0.23	0.36
≥25 kg/m^2
Cases/controls	55/39	54/45	52/42
OR (95% CI)	1.83 (1.11–3.01)	1.45 (0.89–2.37)	1.64 (0.99–2.73)	0.56
Women
Smoking^a
Never-smokers
Cases/controls	107/86	97/88	82/81
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	0.89 (0.59–1.36)	0.83 (0.53–1.28)	0.49	0.59
Ever-smokers
Cases/controls	20/18	8/16	14/22
OR (95% CI)	0.83 (0.40–1.72)	0.41 (0.16–1.02)	0.52 (0.24–1.09)	0.49
Alcohol drinking^b
Non-drinkers
Cases/controls	78/ 68	80/ 74	78/ 77
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	0.94 (0.59–1.50)	0.93 (0.58–1.48)	0.82	0.15
Drinkers
Cases/controls	49/36	25/30	18/26
OR (95% CI)	1.34 (0.76–2.37)	0.81 (0.42–1.54)	0.67 (0.33–1.37)	0.06
Body mass index ^c
<25 kg/m^2
Cases/controls	99/84	80/84	78/83
OR (95% CI)	1.00 (reference)	0.82 (0.53–1.27)	0.81 (0.52–1.27)	0.33	0.89
≥25 kg/m^2
Cases/controls	28/20	25/20	18/20
OR (95% CI)	1.09 (0.55–2.13)	0.97 (0.49–1.93)	0.82 (0.39–1.69)	0.51

*Adjusted for age, residence area, job, parental history of colorectal cancer, smoking, alcohol drinking, body mass index 10 years before, leisure-time physical activity, calcium and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

^aModels did not include smoking.

^bModels did not include alcohol drinking.

^cModels did not include body mass index.

Abbreviations: CI = confidence interval; OR = odds ratio.