Supplemental Selenium May Decrease Ovarian Cancer Risk in African-American Women.

J Nutr. 2017 Feb 15. pii: jn243279. doi: 10.3945/jn.116.243279. [Epub ahead of print]

Terry PD1, Qin B2, Camacho F3, Moorman PG4, Alberg AJ5, Barnholtz-Sloan JS6, Bondy M7, Cote ML8, Funkhouser E9, Guertin KA3, Peters ES10, Schwartz AG8, Schildkraut JM3, Bandera EV2.

Author information

• 1Department of Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville, TN; pdterry@utk.edu.
• 2Department of Population Science, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ.
• 3Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
• 4Department of Community and Family Medicine, Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC.
• 5Hollings Cancer Center and Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC.
• 6Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH.
• 7Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences Program, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
• 8Department of Oncology and the Karmanos Cancer Institute, Population Studies and Disparities Research Program, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI.
• 9Division of Preventive Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL; and.
• 10Epidemiology Program, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Public Health, New Orleans, LA.

Abstract

Background: To our knowledge, no previous study has evaluated the associations of antioxidant intake with the risk of ovarian cancer in African-American women, who are known to have high mortality from the disease.Objective: We sought to evaluate these associations among 406 ovarian cancer cases and 632 age- and site-matched controls of African-American descent recruited from AACES (African American Cancer Epidemiology Study), a population-based, case-control study in 11 geographical areas within the United States.Methods: Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate ORs and 95% CIs adjusted for a wide range of potentially confounding factors, including age, region, education, parity, oral contraceptive use, menopause, tubal ligation, family history, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, total energy, and physical activity.Results: Women with the highest intakes of supplemental selenium (>20 μg/d) had an ∼30% lower risk of ovarian cancer than those with no supplemental intake (OR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.97; P-trend = 0.035). This inverse association was stronger in current smokers (OR: 0.13; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.46; P-trend = 0.001). There was no association with dietary selenium. The associations with carotenoid intakes were weak and nonsignificant (P = 0.07-0.60). We observed no association with dietary or supplemental intake of vitamin C or vitamin E. There were no appreciable differences in results between serous and nonserous tumors.Conclusions: These findings provide the first insights, to our knowledge, into the potential association between antioxidants and ovarian cancer in African-American women, indicating potential inverse associations with supplemental selenium.

© 2017 American Society for Nutrition.

KEYWORDS:

African American; antioxidants; diet; ovarian cancer; women