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Dietary intake of B vitamins and methionine and prostate cancer incidence and mortality

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Abstract

Purpose

We investigated prospectively the relationship between dietary intakes of methionine, B vitamins associated with one-carbon metabolism, and risk of incident and fatal prostate cancer.

Methods

The Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study recruited 41,514 people aged 40–69 years between 1990 and 1994. During follow-up of 14,620 men for 15 years on average, we ascertained 1,230 incident prostate cancers and 114 prostate cancer deaths. Dietary intakes were estimated using a 121-item food frequency questionnaire. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % confidence intervals were estimated using Cox regression.

Results

For overall prostate cancer incidence, HRs for riboflavin intake were significantly increased relative to quintile 1 (except quintile 5), with a peak for quintile 3, HR 1.29 (1.07, 1.57). A similar but non-statistically significant pattern existed between riboflavin intake and prostate cancer mortality. The HR for folate intake and overall incidence was significantly increased for quintile 4, HR 1.21 (1.01, 1.46). No association was observed between prostate cancer mortality and the intake of either folate or any other B vitamin or methionine, and no observed association varied by tumor aggressiveness (all Phomogeneity > 0.1).

Conclusions

We found little evidence of association between dietary intakes of B vitamins or methionine and prostate cancer risk. Weak associations between prostate cancer incidence and dietary intake of riboflavin and folate, and between riboflavin intake and prostate cancer mortality, need corroboration by other studies.

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Acknowledgments

This study was made possible by the contribution of many people, including the original investigators and the diligent team who recruited the participants and who continue working on follow-up. We would also like to express our gratitude to the many thousands of Melbourne residents who continue to participate in the study. Cohort recruitment was funded by VicHealth and The Cancer Council Victoria. This work was supported by infrastructure from the Cancer Council Victoria and grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (209057, 251533, 520316).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Cancer Council Victoria, 1 Rathdowne Street, Carlton, VIC, 3053, Australia

    Julie K. Bassett, Gianluca Severi, Allison M. Hodge, Laura Baglietto, Dallas R. English & Graham G. Giles

  2. Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology, School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne, Level 1, 723 Swanston Street, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Gianluca Severi, Laura Baglietto, John L. Hopper, Dallas R. English & Graham G. Giles

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Graham G. Giles

Authors
  1. Julie K. Bassett
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  2. Gianluca Severi
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  7. Graham G. Giles
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Correspondence to Julie K. Bassett.

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Bassett, J.K., Severi, G., Hodge, A.M. et al. Dietary intake of B vitamins and methionine and prostate cancer incidence and mortality. Cancer Causes Control 23, 855–863 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-9954-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-9954-5

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