A pooled analysis of 12 cohort studies of dietary fat, cholesterol and egg intake and ovarian cancer.

Pubmed ID: 16489535

Journal: Cancer causes & control : CCC

Publication Date: April 1, 2006

Affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. pooling@hsphsun2.harvard.edu

MeSH Terms: Feeding Behavior, Ovarian Neoplasms, North America, Cholesterol, Eggs, Female, Humans, Cohort Studies, Risk, Dietary Fats

Grants: CA098566, CA55075

Authors: Ross JA, Schouten LJ, Rodriguez C, Buring JE, Larsson SC, Koenig KL, Hankinson SE, Schatzkin A, McCullough ML, Zhang SM, Anderson KE, Genkinger JM, Leitzmann M, Smit E, Colditz GA, Zeleniuch-Jacquotte A, Beeson WL, Rohan TE, Freudenheim JL, Willett WC, Smith-Warner SA, Wolk A, Miller AB, Fraser GE, Hunter DJ, Goldbohm RA, Spiegelman D

Cite As: Genkinger JM, Hunter DJ, Spiegelman D, Anderson KE, Beeson WL, Buring JE, Colditz GA, Fraser GE, Freudenheim JL, Goldbohm RA, Hankinson SE, Koenig KL, Larsson SC, Leitzmann M, McCullough ML, Miller AB, Rodriguez C, Rohan TE, Ross JA, Schatzkin A, Schouten LJ, Smit E, Willett WC, Wolk A, Zeleniuch-Jacquotte A, Zhang SM, Smith-Warner SA. A pooled analysis of 12 cohort studies of dietary fat, cholesterol and egg intake and ovarian cancer. Cancer causes & control : CCC. 2006 Apr.

Related Projects:

Pooling Project of Prospective Studies of Diet and Cancer (DCCP) (Project Group)

Abstract

Fat and cholesterol are theorized to promote ovarian carcinogenesis by increasing circulating estrogen levels. Although case-control studies have reported positive associations between total and saturated fat intake and ovarian cancer risk, two cohort studies have observed null associations. Dietary cholesterol and eggs have been positively associated with ovarian cancer risk. A pooled analysis was conducted on 12 cohort studies. Among 523,217 women, 2,132 incident epithelial ovarian cancer cases were identified. Study-specific relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by Cox proportional hazards models, and then pooled using a random effects model. Total fat intake was not associated with ovarian cancer risk (pooled multivariate RR = 1.08, 95% CI 0.86-1.34 comparing > or =45 to 30-<35% of calories). No association was observed for monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, trans-unsaturated, animal and vegetable fat, cholesterol and egg intakes with ovarian cancer risk. A weakly positive, but non-linear association, was observed for saturated fat intake (pooled multivariate RR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.01-1.66 comparing highest versus lowest decile). Results for histologic subtypes were similar. Overall, fat, cholesterol and egg intakes were not associated with ovarian cancer risk. The positive association for saturated fat intake at very high intakes merits further investigation.

Last Updated: 14 Mar, 2025