Dietary factors in relation to endometrial cancer: a nationwide case-control study in Sweden

The incidence of endometrial cancer varies up to 10-fold between high- and low-incidence regions, suggesting the importance of environmental factors, including diet, in the etiology of this disease. However, few studies have examined the role of diet in the etiology of endometrial cancer. Using unconditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), we analyzed data from a large, case-control study of Swedish-born postmenopausal women aged 50-74 yr (709 cases and 2,887 controls) residing in Sweden between 1994 and 1995. We found no clear association between foods or food groups and endometrial cancer risk, although high consumption of certain foods, such as Brassica vegetables, coffee, and legumes, might be associated with small-to-moderate reduced risks of endometrial cancer, while red meat consumption might be associated with a small-to-moderate increased risk. Daily use of calcium supplements appeared to lower endometrial cancer risk (OR = 0.5, 95% CI = 0.3-0.9, P for trend = 0.04), especially among women with low calcium intake from dairy products. On the other hand, the use of iron supplements appeared to increase the risk (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 0.9-3.3, P for trend = 0.03). The findings are discussed with respect to previous studies and the possible underlying mechanisms.