Dietary habits and oral and oropharyngeal cancer

Author(s)

Tatiana Natasha Toporcov

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Odontologia (FO/SDO)
• Defense date: 2010-08-24

Examining board members

Jose Leopoldo Ferreira Antunes; Maria Gabriela Haye Biazevic; Rosana Sarmento Brasileiro; Luiz Paulo Kowalski; Victor Wunsch Filho

• Advisor: Jose Leopoldo Ferreira Antunes

Abstract

Oral and oropharyngeal cancer is an important public health problem, which involves near 400 thousand new cases each year worldwide. This study aimed at assessing the association between dietary habits and the incidence of oral and oropharyngeal cancer. We performed a hospital-based case-control study with concurrent pairing by gender and age (±5 years). The sample comprised 296 cases diagnosed with oral or oropharyngeal cancer and 296 controles without cancer Who were assisted in four hospitals in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, from 2006 to 2008: do Cancer Institute Arnaldo Vieira de Carvalho, A. C. Camargo Hospital, Heliópolis Hospital (São Paulo State Health Department) and Clinics Hospital (School of Medicine, University of São Paulo). Information on diet was gathered during an interview, and used a food frequency questionnaire. Conditional logistic regression adjusted for gender, age, income, tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking allowed the identification of an inverse association between oral and oropharyngeal cancer and the intake of raw vegetables (Odds Ratio=0.19; p for trend<0.001) and fruits (OR=0.15; p trend<0.001) and a direct association between the disease and fat foods, as bacon (OR=26.38; p trend<0.001), meat (OR= 3.77; p trend=0.004), eggs (OR=22.23; p trend<0.001) and deep fried foods (OR= 5.53; p trend<0.001). The stratification of subjects according to smoking habits allowed the identification of a likely higher protective effect of fruits and raw vegetables among smokers. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that food rich in animal and saturated fat would increase the risk of oral and oropharyngeal cancer, whereas the frequent intake of fruits and raw vegetables would be protective against the disease. This information is relevant for the instruction of preventive interventions against oral and oropharyngeal cancer. (AU)