Consumption of Raw Cruciferous Vegetables is Inversely Associated with Bladder Cancer Risk

Abstract

Cruciferous vegetables contain isothiocyanates, which show potent chemopreventive activity against bladder cancer in both in vitro and in vivo studies. However, previous epidemiologic studies investigating cruciferous vegetable intake and bladder cancer risk have been inconsistent. Cooking can substantially reduce or destroy isothiocyanates, and could account for study inconsistencies. In this hospital-based case-control study involving 275 individuals with incident, primary bladder cancer and 825 individuals without cancer, we examined the usual prediagnostic intake of raw and cooked cruciferous vegetables in relation to bladder cancer risk. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated with unconditional logistic regression, adjusting for smoking and other bladder cancer risk factors. We observed a strong and statistically significant inverse association between bladder cancer risk and raw cruciferous vegetable intake (adjusted OR for highest versus lowest category = 0.64; 95% CI, 0.42-0.97), with a significant trend (P = 0.003); there were no significant associations for fruit, total vegetables, or total cruciferous vegetables. The associations observed for total raw crucifers were also observed for individual raw crucifers. The inverse association remained significant among current and heavy smokers with three or more servings per month of raw cruciferous vegetables (adjusted ORs, 0.46 and 0.60; 95% CI, respectively). These data suggest that cruciferous vegetables, when consumed raw, may reduce the risk of bladder cancer, an effect consistent with the role of dietary isothiocyanates as chemopreventive agents against bladder cancer. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008; 17(4):938 -44)

Consumption of vegetables and fruit and the risk of bladder cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition

“…More recent case-control studies found no overall effect of vegetable consumption on bladder cancer risk. [24][25][26][27] Two case-control studies found a protective effect of fruit consumption on bladder cancer risk. 24,25 Results from casecontrol studies are known to be sensitive to selection and recall bias.…”

The origins of bladder cancer

“…2 Recent modest reductions in the incidence of bladder cancer are attributed to decreasing exposure to tobacco smoking and to occupational carcinogens. Although diet might also influence bladder carcinogenesis, owing to the many potential carcinogens or chemopreventive nutrients therein, 11 no consistent association between intake of selected nutrients or micronutrients and bladder cancer has emerged. Other lifestyle habits have been widely investigated, such as intake of coffee, artificial sweeteners, hair dyes, and have not been materially associated with bladder cancer.…”

Quality characteristics of white cabbage juice stored using thermal processing and addition of chemical additives

“…Due to its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, cabbage has widespread use in traditional medicine, in alleviation of symptoms associated with gastrointestinal disorders (gastritis, peptic and duodenal ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome) as well as in treatment of minor cuts and wounds and mastitis, improve the bioavailable content of nonheme iron (Chiplonkar et al, 1999). Cabbage is good detoxifier, which purifies blood and removes toxinsdue to the presence of vitamin C and sulphur (Tang et al, (2007) in good amount. The beneficial phytochemicals in cabbage help activate and stabilize the body's antioxidant and detoxification mechanisms that dismantle and eliminate cancer-producing substances (Brooks et al,, 2231-5209 (Online) All Rights Reserved © Applied and Natural Science Foundation www.jans.ansfoundation.org 2001).…”