Dietary intake of vitamin D and calcium and breast cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition

Nutr Cancer. 2013;65(2):178-87. doi: 10.1080/01635581.2013.752018.

Abstract

Studies assessing the effects of vitamin D or calcium intake on breast cancer risk have been inconclusive. Furthermore, few studies have evaluated them jointly. This study is the largest so far examining the association of dietary vitamin D and calcium intake with breast cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. During a mean follow-up of 8.8 yr, 7760 incident invasive breast cancer cases were identified among 319,985 women. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer risk. Comparing the highest with the lowest quintile of vitamin D intake, HR and 95% CI were 1.07 (0.87-1.32) and 1.02 (0.90-1.16) for pre- and postmenopausal women, respectively. The corresponding HR and 95% CIs for calcium intake were 0.98 (0.80-1.19) and 0.90 (0.79-1.02), respectively. For calcium intake in postmenopausal women, the test for trend was borderline statistically significant (P(trend) = 0.05). There was no significant interaction between vitamin D and calcium intake and cancer risk (P(interaction) = 0.57 and 0.22 in pre- and postmenopausal women, respectively). In this large prospective cohort, we found no evidence for an association between dietary vitamin D or calcium intake and breast cancer risk.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Breast Neoplasms / epidemiology
  • Breast Neoplasms / etiology*
  • Calcium, Dietary / administration & dosage*
  • Calcium, Dietary / pharmacology
  • Cohort Studies
  • Europe / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Postmenopause
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Risk Factors
  • Vitamin D / administration & dosage*
  • Vitamin D / pharmacology

Substances

  • Calcium, Dietary
  • Vitamin D