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. 2009 Sep;117(2):381-9.
doi: 10.1007/s10549-008-0270-4. Epub 2008 Dec 20.

Plasma carotenoids, tocopherols, retinol and breast cancer risk: results from the Shanghai Women Health Study (SWHS)

Tsogzolmaa Dorjgochoo  1 , Yu-Tang Gao, Wong-Ho Chow, Xiao-Ou Shu, Honglan Li, Gong Yang, Qiuyin Cai, Nathaniel Rothman, Hui Cai, Adrian A Franke, Wei Zheng, Qi Dai
Affiliations

Plasma carotenoids, tocopherols, retinol and breast cancer risk: results from the Shanghai Women Health Study (SWHS)

Tsogzolmaa Dorjgochoo et al. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2009 Sep.

Abstract

Evidence from some previous studies suggests that lipophilic antioxidants, particularly carotenoids, may reduce the risk of breast cancer. We prospectively investigated the associations of plasma levels of tocopherols, retinol, carotenoids with the risk of developing breast cancer among Chinese women. We conducted a study of 365 incident breast cancer cases and 726 individually matched controls nested within a large cohort study of women aged 40-70 years at baseline. We observed no associations between breast cancer risk and any of the tocopherols, retinol, and most carotenoids. However, high levels of plasma lycopene other than trans, 5- and 7-cis or trans alpha-cryptoxanthin were inversely associated with the risk of developing breast cancer. Our results do not support an overall protective effect of lipophilic antioxidants on breast cancer risk. The few inverse associations observed for subtype of carotenoids may need to be confirmed in future studies.

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