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. 2020 Oct 21;17(20):7692.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17207692.

Investigation of the Association between Drinking Water Habits and the Occurrence of Women Breast Cancer

Yael Keren  1 , Racheli Magnezi  1 , Moshe Carmon  2 , Yona Amitai  1
Affiliations

Investigation of the Association between Drinking Water Habits and the Occurrence of Women Breast Cancer

Yael Keren et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Risk and protective factors for breast cancer (BC) include lifestyle, diet, reproduction, and others. Increased risk for colon cancer was linked with low water intake. The link between water consumption and BC was scarcely studied. We investigated the association between water and fluid consumption and the occurrence of BC in a retrospective case-control study in the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, in 206 women aged 25-65 years (106 with newly diagnosed BC, and 100 controls). A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), consumption of water, foods, and beverages, lifestyle, and other risk and protective factors were recorded. The age of women in both groups was comparable ((M ± SD) 52.7 ± 9.8 and 50.6 ± 11.4 years, respectively (p = 0.29)). Women with BC consumed 20.2% less water (M ± SD = 5.28 ± 4.2 and 6.62 ± 4.5 cups/day, respectively, p = 0.02) and 14% less total fluids than controls (M ± SD = 2095 ± 937 mL/day and 2431 ± 1087 mL/day, respectively, p = 0.018). Multiple stepwise logistic regression showed that the differences remained significant both for daily water consumption (p = 0.031, CI = 0.462-0.964) and for total daily liquid intake (p = 0.029, CI = 0.938-0.997). Low water and liquids intake as a risk factor for BC may be related to the younger age of our subjects. The effect of age on the potential role of water intake in decreasing BC risk should be investigated.

Keywords: breast cancer; cancer prevention; liquid consumption; prevention; water consumption; water drinking.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Water consumption (glasses/day).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Liquids consumption (mL/day).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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