Flavonoid intake and breast cancer risk: a case–control study in Greece

Abstract

Flavonoids have been investigated for possible inverse associations with various chronic degenerative diseases, but there are no epidemiologic data concerning a possible association between several of the main flavonoid categories and breast cancer risk. We have applied recently published data on the flavonoid content of several foods and beverages on dietary information collected in the context of a large case -control study of 820 women with breast cancer and 1548 control women, conducted in Greece. We found a strong, statistically significant inverse association of flavone intake with breast cancer. The odds ratio for an increment equal to one standard deviation of daily flavone intake (i.e. 0.5 mg day À1 ) was 0.87, with 95% confidence interval 0.77 -0.97. The association persisted after controlling for fruit and vegetable consumption, or for other flavonoid intake. This inverse association is compatible with and may explain the reported inverse association of breast cancer with consumption of vegetables, particularly leafy vegetables. After controlling for dietary confounding, there was no association of breast cancer risk with flavanones, flavan-3-ols, flavonols, anthocyanidins or isoflavones.

Apigenin and cancer chemoprevention: Progress, potential and promise (Review)

“…In the Zutphen elderly study, which was based on the analyses of five flavonoids (quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, apigenin and luteolin) in composite food samples for 738 median aged (65-84 years) individuals without a history of cancer and followed for 5 years, high intake of flavonoids from vegetables and fruits was inversely associated with the risk of cancer (74). A recent case-control study conducted in Greece on 820 women with breast cancer and 1,548 control patients without breast cancer demonstrated a strong significant inverse association between flavone intake in leafy vegetables and the development of breast cancer (75). More recent casecontrol studies of breast cancer conducted in Italy which included 2,569 women with histologically confirmed breast cancer and 2,588 hospital controls have found an inverse association between flavone consumption and breast cancer risk, essentially confirming the results of the Greek study (76).…”

Epidemiology of soy exposures and breast cancer risk

“…Fourteen studies were included in the meta-analysis by Trock et al (2006). Of the remaining 14 studies, 6 were conducted in Asia (Hirose et al, 2005;Lee et al, 2005;Shannon et al, 2005;Ho et al, 2006;Do et al, 2007;Nishio et al, 2007) while the rest were conducted in various Western populations (Peterson et al, 2003;dos Santos Silva et al, 2004;Keinan-Boker et al, 2004;Bosetti et al, 2005;Thanos et al, 2006;Touillaud et al, 2006;Fink et al, 2007;Verheus et al, 2007). Given that Asians differ from Western populations in terms of types and amounts of soy consumed, and possess distinct characteristics linked to breast cancer risk, we conducted separate meta-analysis on epidemiologic data derived from Asians and Western populations, respectively.…”

Dietary intakes and food sources of phytoestrogens in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) 24-hour dietary recall cohort

“…[14][15][16][17][18] Few descriptive articles exist on lignans, 19,20 and even fewer are available to date on coumestans, enterolignans and equol intakes, especially in Europe. 4 Moreover, the assessment methods used in these studies have been quite heterogeneous and some used old food composition databases (FCDB), so it is straightforward comparing phytoestrogen intakes.…”