High Dietary Calcium Intake May Increase Prostate Cancer Risk

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 14 Nov 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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Men with a high intake of dietary calcium are at greater risk of developing prostate cancer, according to a study presented today during the American Association for Cancer Research's 4th annual Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting in Baltimore.

Researchers from the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) reviewed data from the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study to evaluate the relation between calcium, vitamin D, phosphorus as well as dairy products and occurrence of prostate cancer. The current research was based on 17 years of follow-up and 1269 incident cases of prostate cancer.

Results showed that higher intakes of dietary calcium were associated with a significant increase in prostate cancer risk - men who consumed more than 2000 mg of calcium per day nearly doubled their risk of developing prostate cancer. While dairy product intake increased the risk of prostate cancer, no association remained after controlling for calcium. With the exception of cream which showed a significant trend toward an increased prostate cancer risk across intake levels, other individual dairy products showed no association. Moreover, there was no evidence of a link for intake of vitamin D or phosphorous.

"The results of our study suggest that high intakes of dietary calcium are related to an increased risk of prostate cancer," according to Panagiota Mitrou, of the NCI and lead author of the study. "These results might explain the positive association seen with dairy products in our and previous studies. Further research should focus on how dietary calcium could affect prostate cancer."

The ATBC Study was a large prospective cancer prevention trial conducted by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Public Health Institute of Finland from 1985 to 1993. The purpose of the study was to determine whether certain vitamin supplements would prevent cancer in a group of 29,133 male (aged 50 to 69) smokers in Finland. The trial ended in 1993, but ongoing follow-up of the participants enables continued research into the causes and prevention of multiple diseases, including cancer.

Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research is a professional society of more than 24,000 laboratory, translational, and clinical scientists engaged in all areas of cancer research in the United States and in more than 60 other countries. AACR's mission is to accelerate the prevention and cure of cancer through research, education, communication, and advocacy. Its principal activities include the publication of five major peer-reviewed scientific journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. AACR's Annual Meetings attract nearly 16,000 participants who share new and significant discoveries in the cancer field. Specialty meetings, held throughout the year, focus on the latest developments in all areas of cancer research.

Intakes of Calcium, Dairy Products, and Prostate Cancer Risk in the ATBC Study
Abstract # 3688, Panagiota Mitrou, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.' Poster Session B. 5:15 p.m., Tuesday, November 1, 2005

American Association for Cancer Research
http://www.aacr.org