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. 2022 Jan;41(1):57-63.
doi: 10.1080/07315724.2020.1848661. Epub 2020 Dec 14.

Sucrose Intakes and Incident Colorectal Cancer Risk among Women

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Sucrose Intakes and Incident Colorectal Cancer Risk among Women

Nfn Kiran et al. J Am Nutr Assoc. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Background: High sucrose intakes are hypothesized to increase colorectal cancer (CRC) risk by several mechanisms, and sucrose intakes have been consistently positively associated with CRC risk in case-control studies. However, all but one prospective study reported a null sucrose-CRC association. The only prospective study to report a positive association was the Iowa Women's Health Study (IWHS) of 35,221 cancer-free Iowa women, aged 55 - 69 years old at baseline in 1986, after four years of follow up.

Materials and methods: To address the discrepant findings in the literature, after 26 years of follow up in the IWHS, we updated and expanded on our earlier reported analyses. During follow up through 2012, 1,731 women were diagnosed with CRC. Baseline dietary intakes were assessed with a Willett semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models to estimate adjusted hazards ratios (HRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Results: For those in the highest relative to the lowest intake quintiles, the adjusted HRs (95% CI) for CRC were 1.04 (0.87-1.23; Ptrend = 0.59) for sucrose, 1.00 (0.82-1.21; Ptrend = 0.67) for sucrose-containing foods, and 1.01, (0.83-1.22; Ptrend = 0.56) for nondairy sucrose-containing foods, respectively. These findings did not differ substantially by colorectal site or according to categories of selected participant characteristics.

Conclusions: Our findings do not support that intakes of sucrose or sucrose-containing foods are substantially associated with CRC risk among older women.

Keywords: Sucrose; colorectal cancer; prospective cohort studies.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure Statement: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Declaration of Interest Statement

None of the authors has a conflict of interest to disclose. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the National Cancer Institute or the Wilson P. and Anne W. Franklin Foundation. The National Cancer Institute and the Wilson P. and Anne W. Franklin Foundation had no influence on the analysis and interpretation of the data, the decision to submit the manuscript for publication, or the writing of the manuscript.

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