Plasma carotenoids, retinol, and tocopherols and postmenopausal breast cancer risk in the Multiethnic Cohort Study: a nested case-control study

IntroductionAssessments by the handful of prospective studies of the association of serum antioxidants and breast cancer risk gain yielded inconsistent results. This multiethnic nested case-control study sought to peep the convention of plasma carotenoids, retinol, and tocopherols with postmenopausal breast cancer risk. Methods: From the biospecimen subcohort of the Multiethnic Cohort Study, 286 trouble postmenopausal breast cancer cases were matched to 535 controls on age, sex, ethnicity, study stop (Hawaii or California), smoking status, day and bit of collection and hours of fasting. We measured prediagnositic, circulating levels of individual carotenoids, retinol, and tocopherols. Conditional logistic regression was used to compute odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results: Women with breast cancer tended to accept lower levels of plasma carotenoids and tocopherols than matched controls, but the differences were not copious or statistically forceful and the trends were not monotonic. No association was seen with retinol. A sensitivity argument excluding cases diagnosed within one year after blood frame did not exchange the findings. Conclusions: The abridgement of significant associations in this multiethnic population is consistent with formerly observed results from less racially-diverse cohorts and serves as further evidence against a causal link between plasma micronutrient concentrations and postmenopausal breast cancer risk.

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