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Reduced Risk of Colon Cancer with High Intake of Vitamin E: The Iowa Women's Health Study¹

Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health [R. M. B., J. D. P., D. R. M., T. A. S., L. H. K., K. A. S., A. R. F.], and Department of Family Practice and Community Health, Medical School [R. M. B.], University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55454

Antioxidant micronutrients, including vitamin E, vitamin C, the carotenoids, and selenium, defend the body against free radicals and reactive oxygen molecules, suggesting a potential for these dietary components in cancer prevention. To investigate whether high intakes of antioxidant micronutrients protect against colon cancer in humans, we analyzed data from a prospective cohort study of 35,215 Iowa women aged 55–69 years and without a history of cancer who completed a dietary questionnaire in 1986. Through 1990, 212 incident cases of colon cancer were documented. Adjusted for age, total vitamin E intake was inversely associated with the risk of colon cancer (P for trend < 0.0001); the relative risk for the highest compared to the lowest quintile was 0.32 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.19, 0.54]. Further adjustment for total energy intake and other risk factors in proportional hazards regression had little effect on these estimates. The association was not uniform across age groups: the multivariate relative risk of colon cancer for the highest compared to the lowest quintile of total vitamin E intake was 0.16 (95% CI 0.04, 0.70) for those 55–59 years old, 0.37 (95% CI 0.12, 1.16) for those 60–64 years old, and 0.93 (95% CI 0.27, 3.25) for those 65–69 years old. Multivariate-adjusted relative risks among women with higher total intakes of vitamins A and C and ß-carotene, and among users of selenium supplements, were not significantly different from 1.0. These prospective data provide evidence that a high intake of vitamin E may decrease the risk of colon cancer, especially in persons under 65 years of age.

¹ Supported by Grant RO1 CA39742 from the National Cancer Institute. The contents of this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the National Cancer Institute.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Division of Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, 1300 South 2nd Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454.

Received 12/14/92. Accepted 7/ 7/93.

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