Serum Levels of Micronutrients, Antioxidants and Total Antioxidant Status Predict Risk of Breast Cancer in a Case Control Study

Abstract

We performed a case control study to assess the association between serum micronutrient and antioxidant levels and the risk of breast cancer. Newly diagnosed breast cancer cases were recruited before any treatment and matched with controls randomly selected from the electoral roll. Blood samples were collected from 153 breast cancer cases and 151 controls. Serum samples were analyzed for retinol, alpha-tocopherol, lycopene, alpha- and beta-carotene by HPLC, and total antioxidant status by the Trolox-equivalent antioxidant assay. Serum albumin, bilirubin and uric acid levels were also determined. After adjustment for age at menarche, parity, dietary fat and alcohol intake, we observed the following reductions in odds ratios for breast cancer risk comparing the highest with the lowest quartiles: 0.47 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.24, 0.91] for beta-carotene; 0.53 (CI 0.28, 1.01) for retinol; 0.50 (CI 0.26, 0.97) for bilirubin and 0.47 (CI 0.24, 0.94) for total antioxidant status. We conclude that increased serum levels of beta-carotene, retinol, bilirubin and total antioxidant status are associated with reductions in breast cancer risk.

Eryngium foetidum Suppresses Inflammatory Mediators Produced by Macrophages

“…The E. foetidum leaf extract contains kaempferol, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, lutein, and β-carotene. All components have been previously reported to have anti-inflammatory activities, and some also have antioxidant activities (Ching et al, 2002;Lee et al, 2004;Shin et al, 2004;Bai et al, 2005;Kowalski et al, 2005;dos Santos et al, 2006;Hamalainen et al, 2007;Chao et al, 2009;Shan et al, 2009;Zhang et al, 2010). Several bioactive compounds in E. foetidum leaves were recently reported (Paul et al, 2010) to play a role in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities.…”

Genetic polymorphisms in uridine diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 and breast cancer risk in Africans

“…Researchers have hypothesized that low-activity UGT1A1 TA repeat alleles are associated with high bilirubin level, which may result in decreased cancer susceptibility due to increased antioxidant load [24]. A case-control study showed that bilirubin levels were lower in breast cancer cases than in healthy controls [25]. Therefore, bilirubin, as an antioxidant, may counteract the detrimental effect of elevated estradiol levels associated with low-activity UGT1A1 alleles in premenopausal women.…”

Bilirubin and Biliverdin Treatment of Atherosclerotic Diseases

“…Such a finding would be consistent with the observation, mentioned above, that several clinical association studies have shown an inverse correlation between blood plasma bilirubin levels and the incidence of atherosclerosis-type diseases. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] …”