Inverse association of antioxidant and phytoestrogen nutrient intake with adult glioma in the San Francisco Bay Area: a case-control study

Nicole Tedeschi-Blok¹ , Marion Lee³ , Jennette D Sison² , Rei Miike² and Margaret Wrensch²

¹Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, SRT 1015, MS 103, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA

²Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, USA

³Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, USA

author email corresponding author email

BMC Cancer 2006, 6:148doi:10.1186/1471-2407-6-148


Published:	3 June 2006

Abstract

Background

Increasing evidence from epidemiologic studies suggest that oxidative stress may play a role in adult glioma. In addition to dietary antioxidants, antioxidant and weak estrogenic properties of dietary phytoestrogens may attenuate oxidative stress. Our hypothesis is that long-term consumption of dietary antioxidants and phytoestrogens such as genistein, daidzein, biochanin A, formononetin, matairesinol, secoisolariciresinol and coumestrol, may reduce the risk of adult glioma.

Methods

Using unconditional logistic regression models, we compared quartiles of consumption for several specific antioxidants and phytoestrogens among 802 adult glioma cases and 846 controls from two study series from the San Francisco Bay Area Adult Glioma Study, 1991 – 2000, controlling for vitamin supplement usage, age, socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity and total daily calories. For cases, dietary information was either self-reported or reported by a proxy. For controls, dietary information was self-reported. Gender- and series- specific quartiles of average daily nutrient intake, estimated from food-frequency questionnaires, were computed from controls.

Results

Significant p-values (trend test) were evaluated using significance levels of either 0.05 or 0.003 (the Bonferroni corrected significance level equivalent to 0.05 adjusting for 16 comparisons). For all cases compared to controls, statistically significant inverse associations were observed for antioxidant index (p < 0.003), carotenoids (alpha- and beta-carotene combined, p < 0.05), daidzein (p = 0.003), matairesinol (p < 0.05), secoisolariciresinol (p < 0.003), and coumestrol (p < 0.003). For self-reported cases compared to controls, statistically significant inverse associations were observed for antioxidant index (p < 0.05) and daidzein (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Our results support inverse associations of glioma with higher dietary antioxidant index and with higher intake of certain phytoestrogens, especially daidzein.