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Association between dietary calcium and vitamin D intake and cervical carcinogenesis among Japanese women

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

To examine the association between dietary calcium and vitamin D intake and cervical neoplasia risk, we conducted a case–control study.

Subjects/Methods:

We selected 405 incident cervical neoplasias (333 invasive carcinomas and 72 cervical intraepithelial neoplasias grade III (CIN3)) and 2025 age-matched non-cancer controls. Dietary information was collected using a semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The effect on cervical neoplasia risk was evaluated using conditional logistic regression models.

Results:

The inverse association between invasive carcinoma and milk, yogurt and fish was observed. On the other hand, the marginally significant inverse association between CIN3 and tofu and green leafy vegetables was observed. Compared with the lowest quartile (Q1) of calcium intake, adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for each of the three upper quartiles (Q2, Q3 and Q4) on invasive carcinoma risk were 0.86 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63–1.17), 0.50 (95% CI 0.34–0.73) and 0.68 (95% CI 0.48–0.97), respectively (P for trend=0.004). However, no association between calcium and cancer risk was evident among CIN3 cases (P for trend=0.528). Vitamin D intake showed a similar inverse association (Q2: OR 1.03, 95% CI 0.74–1.44; Q3: OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.56–1.15; and Q4: OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.43–0.94; P for trend=0.013). Similar to calcium, no association between vitamin D intake among CIN3 was evident (P for trend=0.109). An inverse association with calcium was evident in women whose vitamin D intake was low. However, this combined effect was not significant (invasive carcinoma: interaction P=0.819; and CIN3: interaction P=0.101).

Conclusion:

We found an inverse association between dietary calcium and vitamin D intake and cervical neoplasia risk among a group of Japanese women.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the assistant staff at the Division of Epidemiology and Prevention at Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute for their support for this study. This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, Culture and Technology of Japan and for the Third Term Comprehensive 10-Year Strategy for Cancer Control from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan.

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Correspondence to K Matsuo.

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Hosono, S., Matsuo, K., Kajiyama, H. et al. Association between dietary calcium and vitamin D intake and cervical carcinogenesis among Japanese women. Eur J Clin Nutr 64, 400–409 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2010.28

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