Adolescent and mid-life diet: risk of colorectal cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study

• Published in: The American journal of clinical nutrition 2011-12, Vol.94 (6), p.1607-1619
• Main Authors: RUDER, Elizabeth H, THIEBAUT, Anne Cm, THOMPSON, Frances E, POTISCHMAN, Nancy, SUBAR, Amy F, PARK, Yikyung, GRAUBARD, Barry I, HOLLENBECK, Albert R, CROSS, Amanda J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Age; Aged; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Calcium, Dietary - administration & dosage; Calcium, Dietary - therapeutic use; Cancer; Child; Childrens health; Colorectal cancer; Colorectal carcinoma; Colorectal Neoplasms - etiology; Colorectal Neoplasms - prevention & control; Diet; Diet Surveys; Dietary Fats - adverse effects; Diets; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Food Handling; Fruit; Fruits; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Meat; Meat - adverse effects; Micronutrients - administration & dosage; Micronutrients - therapeutic use; Middle Aged; Milk; Multivariate Analysis; Nutrition; Proportional Hazards Models; Risk Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Vitamin A - administration & dosage; Vitamin A - therapeutic use; Vitamins
• ISSN: 0002-9165; 1938-3207
• DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.111.020701

Colorectal cancer has a natural history of several decades; therefore, the diet consumed decades before diagnosis may aid in understanding this malignancy. The objective was to investigate diet during adolescence and 10 y before baseline (ages 40-61 y) in relation to colorectal cancer. Participants in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study (n = 292,797) completed a 124-item food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) about diet in the past 12 mo and two 37-item FFQs about diet at ages 12-13 y and 10 y previously. Cox regression was used to estimate multivariate HRs and 95% CIs for colon (n = 2794) and rectal (n = 979) cancers within quintiles of exposures. Colon cancer risk was lower in the highest than in the lowest quintile of vitamin A (HR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.72, 0.92) and vegetable (HR: 0.81, 0.70, 0.92) intakes during adolescence. Those in the highest intake category 10 y previously for calcium (HR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.73, 0.94), vitamin A (HR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.71, 0.92), vitamin C (HR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.72, 0.95), fruit (HR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.73, 0.97), and milk (HR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.90) had a lower risk of colon cancer, but a higher risk was observed for total fat (HR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.30), red meat (HR: 1.31; 95% CI: 1.12, 1.53), and processed meat (HR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.45). For rectal cancer, milk was inversely associated (HR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.58, 0.96) with risk. Adolescent and midlife diet may play a role in colorectal carcinogenesis.