Dairy products and pancreatic cancer risk: a pooled analysis of 14 cohort studies

J M Genkinger; M Wang; R Li; D Albanes; K E Anderson; L Bernstein; P A van den Brandt; D R English; J L Freudenheim; C S Fuchs; S M Gapstur; G G Giles; R A Goldbohm; N Håkansson; P L Horn-Ross; A Koushik; J R Marshall; M L McCullough; A B Miller; K Robien; T E Rohan; C Schairer; D T Silverman; R Z Stolzenberg-Solomon; J Virtamo; W C Willett; A Wolk; R G Ziegler; S A Smith-Warner

doi:10.1093/annonc/mdu019

Dairy products and pancreatic cancer risk: a pooled analysis of 14 cohort studies

Ann Oncol. 2014 Jun;25(6):1106-15. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdu019. Epub 2014 Mar 14.

Authors

J M Genkinger¹, M Wang², R Li³, D Albanes⁴, K E Anderson⁵, L Bernstein⁶, P A van den Brandt⁷, D R English⁸, J L Freudenheim⁹, C S Fuchs¹⁰, S M Gapstur¹¹, G G Giles⁸, R A Goldbohm¹², N Håkansson¹³, P L Horn-Ross¹⁴, A Koushik¹⁵, J R Marshall⁹, M L McCullough¹¹, A B Miller¹⁶, K Robien¹⁷, T E Rohan¹⁸, C Schairer⁴, D T Silverman⁴, R Z Stolzenberg-Solomon⁴, J Virtamo¹⁹, W C Willett²⁰, A Wolk¹³, R G Ziegler⁴, S A Smith-Warner²¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York jg3081@columbia.edu.
² Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston.
³ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston.
⁴ Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, DHHS, Bethesda.
⁵ Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
⁶ Division of Cancer Etiology, Department of Population Science, Beckman Research Institute and City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, USA.
⁷ Department of Epidemiology, School for Oncology and Developmental Biology (GROW), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
⁸ Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Cancer Council of Victoria, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
⁹ Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo.
¹⁰ Division of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston.
¹¹ Epidemiology Research Program, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, USA.
¹² Department of Prevention and Health, TNO Quality of Life, Leiden, The Netherlands.
¹³ Division of Nutritional Epidemiology, National Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁴ Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal.
¹⁶ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
¹⁷ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University, Washington, DC.
¹⁸ Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Chronic Disease Prevention, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
²⁰ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA.
²¹ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA.

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer has few early symptoms, is usually diagnosed at late stages, and has a high case-fatality rate. Identifying modifiable risk factors is crucial to reducing pancreatic cancer morbidity and mortality. Prior studies have suggested that specific foods and nutrients, such as dairy products and constituents, may play a role in pancreatic carcinogenesis. In this pooled analysis of the primary data from 14 prospective cohort studies, 2212 incident pancreatic cancer cases were identified during follow-up among 862 680 individuals. Adjusting for smoking habits, personal history of diabetes, alcohol intake, body mass index (BMI), and energy intake, multivariable study-specific hazard ratios (MVHR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using the Cox proportional hazards models and then pooled using a random effects model. There was no association between total milk intake and pancreatic cancer risk (MVHR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.82-1.18 comparing ≥500 with 1-69.9 g/day). Similarly, intakes of low-fat milk, whole milk, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, and ice-cream were not associated with pancreatic cancer risk. No statistically significant association was observed between dietary (MVHR = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.77-1.19) and total calcium (MVHR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.71-1.12) intake and pancreatic cancer risk overall when comparing intakes ≥1300 with <500 mg/day. In addition, null associations were observed for dietary and total vitamin D intake and pancreatic cancer risk. Findings were consistent within sex, smoking status, and BMI strata or when the case definition was limited to pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Overall, these findings do not support the hypothesis that consumption of dairy foods, calcium, or vitamin D during adulthood is associated with pancreatic cancer risk.

Keywords: calcium intake; dairy products; pancreatic cancer; pooled analysis.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Review

MeSH terms

Cohort Studies
Dairy Products / adverse effects*
Diet / adverse effects*
Humans
Pancreatic Neoplasms / epidemiology*
Proportional Hazards Models
Risk Factors

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding