Carbohydrate intake, glycemic index and prostate cancer risk
Adriana C Vidal1, Christina D Williams, Emma H Allott
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Clinical Epidemiologic Research, Program of Cancer Detection, Prevention and Control, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina; Section of Urology, Department of Surgery, Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina; Duke Prostate Center, Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina.
Background:
Reported associations between dietary carbohydrate and prostate cancer (PC) risk are poorly characterized by race.
Methods:
We analyzed the association between carbohydrate intake, glycemic index (GI), and PC risk in a study of white (N = 262) and black (N = 168) veterans at the Durham VA Hospital. Cases were 156 men with biopsy-confirmed PC and controls (N = 274) had a PSA test but were not recommended for biopsy. Diet was assessed before biopsy with a self-administered food frequency questionnaire. Logistic regression models were used to estimate PC risk.
Results:
In multivariable analyzes, higher carbohydrate intake, measured as percent of energy from carbohydrates, was associated with reduced PC risk (3rd vs. 1st tertile, OR = 0.41, 95% CI 0.21-0.81, P = 0.010), though this only reached significance in white men (p-trend = 0.029). GI was unrelated to PC risk among all men, but suggestively linked with reduced PC risk in white men (p-trend = 0.066) and increased PC risk in black men (p-trend = 0.172), however, the associations were not significant. Fiber intake was not associated with PC risk (all p-trends > 0.55). Higher carbohydrate intake was associated with reduced risk of high-grade (p-trend = 0.016), but not low-grade PC (p-trend = 0.593).
Conclusion:
Higher carbohydrate intake may be associated with reduced risk of overall and high-grade PC. Future larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.
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