The results are compatible with the hypothesis that the increase in breast cancer risk with increasing BMI among postmenopausal women is largely the result of the associated increase in estrogens, particularly bioavailable estradiol.

No abstract

We assessed the association of sex hormone levels with breast cancer risk in a case -control study nested within the cohort of 7054 New York University (NYU) Women's Health Study participants who were postmenopausal at entry. The study includes 297 cases diagnosed between 6 months and 12.7 years after enrollment and 563 controls. Multivariate odds ratios (ORs) (95% confidence interval (CI)) for breast cancer for the highest quintile of each hormone and sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG) relative to the lowest were as follows: 2.49 (1.47 -4.21), P trend ¼ 0.003 for oestradiol; 3.24 (1.87 -5.58), P trend o0.001 for oestrone; 2.37 (1.39 -4.04), P trend ¼ 0.002 for testosterone; 2.07 (1.28 -3.33), P trend o0.001 for androstenedione; 1.74 (1.05 -2.89), P trend o0.001 for dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS); and 0.51 (0.31 -0.82), P trend o0.001 for SHBG. Analyses limited to the 191 cases who had donated blood five to 12.7 years prior to diagnosis showed results in the same direction as overall analyses, although the tests for trend did not reach statistical significance for DHEAS and SHBG. The rates of change per year in hormone and SHBG levels, calculated for 95 cases and their matched controls who had given a second blood donation within 5 years of diagnosis, were of small magnitude and overall not different in cases and controls. The association of androgens with risk did not persist after adjustment for oestrone (1.08, 95% CI ¼ 0.92 -1.26 for testosterone; 1.15, 95% CI ¼ 0.95 -1.39 for androstenedione and 1.06, 95% CI ¼ 0.90 -1.26 for DHEAS), the oestrogen most strongly associated with risk in our study. Our results support the hypothesis that the associations of circulating oestrogens with breast cancer risk are more likely due to an effect of circulating hormones on the development of cancer than to elevations induced by the tumour. They also suggest that the contribution of androgens to risk is largely through their role as substrates for oestrogen production. Nine prospective studies have now reported on the association between endogenous sex hormone levels in postmenopausal women and subsequent breast cancer risk (Moore et al, 1986;Wysowski et al, 1987;Barrett-Connor et al, 1990;Gordon et al, 1990;Garland et al, 1992;Helzlsouer et al, 1994;Toniolo et al, 1995;Berrino et al, 1996;Dorgan et al, 1996;Thomas et al, 1997;Zeleniuch-Jacquotte et al, 1997;Hankinson et al, 1998;Cauley et al, 1999;Kabuto et al, 2000). The Endogenous Hormones and Breast Cancer Collaborative Group (TEHBCCG) conducted a pooled analysis of the original data of these studies and concluded that both oestrogen and androgen hormones were strongly associated with risk (TEHBCCG, 2002). Remaining questions include how long prior to diagnosis the associations between hormone levels and breast cancer are observed and whether androgens play a part independent of their role as substrates for oestrogen production. The New York University (NYU) Women's Health Study was one of the first prospective studies to report a positive association between ...

Summary Accumulating evidence suggests that folate, which is plentiful in vegetables and fruits, may be protective against colorectal cancer. The authors have studied the relationship of baseline levels of serum folate and homocysteine to the subsequent risk of colorectal cancer in a nested case-control study including 105 cases and 523 matched controls from the New York University Women's Health Study cohort. In univariate analyses, the cases had lower serum folate and higher serum homocysteine levels than controls. The difference was more significant for folate (P < 0.001) than for homocysteine (P = 0.04). After adjusting for potential confounders, the risk of colorectal cancer in the subjects in the highest quartile of serum folate was half that of those in the lowest quartile (odds ratio, OR = 0.52, 95% confidence interval, CI = 0.27-0.97, P-value for trend = 0.04). The OR for the highest quartile of homocysteine, relative to the lowest quartile, was 1.72 (95% CI = 0.83-3.65, P-value for trend = 0.09). In addition, the risk of colorectal cancer was almost twice as high in subjects with belowmedian serum folate and above-median total alcohol intake compared with those with above-median serum folate and below-median alcohol consumption (OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 0.92-4.29). The potentially protective effects of folate need to be confirmed in clinical trials.

The consumption of vegetables and fruit may protect against many types of cancer, but research evidence is not compelling for breast cancer. Carotenoids are pigments that are present in most plants and have known antioxidant properties. Blood concentrations of carotenoids have been proposed as integrated biochemical markers of vegetable, fruit, and synthetic supplements consumed. In a case-control study (270 cases, 270 controls) nested within a cohort in New York during 1985-1994, the carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, alpha-carotene, and beta-carotene were measured in archived serum samples using liquid chromatography. There was an evident increase in the risk of breast cancer for decreasing beta-carotene, lutein, alpha-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin. The risk of breast cancer approximately doubled among subjects with blood levels of beta-carotene at the lowest quartile, as compared with those at the highest quartile (odds ratio = 2.21; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.29, 3.79). The risk associated with the other carotenoids was similar, varying between 2.08 (95% CI: 1.11, 3.90) for lutein and 1.68 (95% CI: 0.99, 2.86) for beta-cryptoxanthin. The odds ratio for the lower quartile of total carotenoids was 2.31 (95% CI: 1.35, 3.96). These observations offer evidence that a low intake of carotenoids, through poor diet and/or lack of vitamin supplementation, may be associated with increased risk of breast cancer and may have public health relevance for people with markedly low intakes.