Dietary habits and risk of urothelial cancer incidence in the JACC Study.

BACKGROUND: The relationships between dietary habits and urothelial cancer have been discussed in many epidemiologic studies, however, they have not been sufficiently elucidated. In the present study, the associations of dietary habits with the risk of urothelial cancer incidence were evaluated taking into consideration sex, age, and smoking habits.

METHODS: The Japan Collaborative Cohort Study (JACC Study) was planned in the late 1980s as a large-scale cohort study surveying people comprehensively and detailing their lifestyles, and the study subjects were followed up until the end of 1997. Among the total of 110,792 participants, 26,464 men and 38,720 women were in areas where incident cases with cancer were identified. During the observation period, 95 men and 28 women suffered from urothelial cancer. Hazard ratios for dietary factors were calculated by Cox's proportional hazards model.

RESULTS: Increasing age, male gender, and smoking history were all significantly associated with the risk of urothelial cancer. High consumption of pork was significantly associated with the risk. In contrast, high intakes of milk and fresh fish were significantly inversely associated with the risk. High intakes of Chinese cabbage and fruits were also significantly inversely associated with the risk of urothelial cancer.

CONCLUSIONS: It is suggested that high intakes of milk, fresh fish, Chinese cabbage, and fruits have preventive effects against urothelial cancer.