dc.description.abstract
Background
Processed meat (PM) consumption is an established risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC). It has been hypothesized that nitrosyl-heme, formed by the addition of nitrites during meat processing, may enhance the carcinogenic effects of PMs. This study aims to investigate the association between nitrosyl-heme intake and CRC risk within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition(EPIC) study.
Methods
This prospective study included 367,463 participants(70.3% women) from seven countries from the EPIC-study. Dietary data were collected via baseline questionnaires, and nitrosyl-heme exposure was estimated using biochemical data from 52 Spanish PMs, extrapolated to country-specific items. Sex-specific multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios(HRs) and 95% confidence intervals(CIs) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models.
Results
Over a 15-year median follow-up, 5,115 incident CRC cases were identified. Comparing the highest vs. the lowest sex-specific tertile of nitrosyl-heme intake we found no significant association with CRC risk (HRT3vsT1:1.01;95%CI:0.93–1.09). Subgroup analyses by tumor subtype and interactions with lifestyle factors also showed no associations.
Conclusions
This study offers insights into nitrosyl-heme exposure in European populations but found no link to CRC risk. Further research is needed to understand nitrosyl-heme's role in CRC.
dc.description.sponsorship
This study was supported by grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III through the PI19/00817 project (co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), a way to build Europe) and through the PFIS FI20/00006 predoctoral funding (co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF), investing in your future). The coordination of EPIC-Europe is financially supported by International Agency for Research on Cancer(IARC) and also by the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London which has additional infrastructure support provided by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The national cohorts are supported by: Danish Cancer Society (Denmark);Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer, Institut Gustave Roussy, Mutuelle Générale de l’Education Nationale (MGEN), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), French National Research Agency (ANR, reference ANR-10-COHO-0006), French Ministry for Higher Education (subsidy 2,102,918,823, 2,103,236,497, and 2,103,586,016) (France); German Cancer Aid, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (Germany); Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro-AIRC-Italy, Italian Ministry of Health, Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR), Compagnia di San Paolo (Italy); Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports (VWS), the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands, for their contribution and ongoing support to the EPIC Study; the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW), World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), (The Netherlands); UiT The Arctic University of Norway; Health Research Fund (FIS)—Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Regional Governments of Andalucía, Asturias, Basque Country, Murcia and Navarra, and the Catalan Institute of Oncology—ICO (Spain); Swedish Cancer Society, Swedish Research Council and County Councils of Skåne and Västerbotten (Sweden); Cancer Research UK (C864/A14136 to EPIC-Norfolk; C8221/A29017 to EPIC-Oxford), Medical Research Council (MR/N003284/1, MC-UU_12015/1 and MC_UU_00006/1 to EPIC-Norfolk; MR/Y013662/1 to EPIC-Oxford) (United Kingdom). Previous support has come from “Europe against Cancer” Programme of the European Commission (DG SANCO). We thank CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya for institutional support.
