Does the oil intake modify the risk of salivary, mammary and prostate tumors?

DEFAGÓ MD, PEROVIC NR, RUPÉREZ C, ACTIS AB

Washington

Conferencia; 2007 AICR/WCRF Launch Conference to introduce the Second Expert Report ?Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective?; 2007

AICR/WCRF

It has been estimated that a high percentage of cancer cases are related to diet. Some nutrients ?such as oil fatty acids? may act in the tumorigenesis process. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between oil intake and the risk of developing salivary, mammary or prostate tumors in Córdoba, Argentina. 57 cases (mammary, prostate or salivary tumors) and 120 controls from 177 subjects of both sexes, aged between 18-79 years old participated in this case-control study. A clinical history, a non-nutritional factor questionnaire and a validated qualitative and quantitative food frequency questionnaire were used in data collection. The non-parametric Wilcoxon test was applied to compare the oil intake between cases and controls. The odds ratio (OR) was calculated and adjusted (aOR) by total energy intake, toxic habits and sex for a 95% confidence interval (CI). Significant differences were observed in the salivary group regarding the consumption of sunflower oil, with this being higher in case (21.19 g/day) than in control subjects (9.95 g/day) (p=0.0186). The olive oil intake was higher in control (4.56 g/day) than in case subjects (0.48 g/day) (p=0.0082). No significant differences with respect of oil intake were found for the other groups. A strong inverse association was found between the olive oil intake (high versus low) and the risk of developing salivary tumors (aOR: 0.04; CI 95% 3.2E-03-0.41; p=0.0006). No association was observed between the oil intake and the risk of mammary or prostate tumors. These preliminary results suggest that a diet including olive oil ?rich in 18:1 omega-9? reduces the risk of salivary tumors.