Cabbage and Sauerkraut Consumption in Adolescence and Adulthood and Breast Cancer Risk among US-Resident Polish Migrant Women.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Case-control study
PubMed 34682540 · doi:10.3390/ijerph182010795
What was done
Researchers conducted a case-control study evaluating the association between cabbage and sauerkraut consumption and breast cancer risk among Polish-born migrant women in Cook County, Illinois, and the Detroit Metropolitan Area. Cases comprised 131 women aged 20-79 years with histologically or cytologically confirmed invasive breast cancer. Controls comprised 284 population-based women frequency-matched to cases on age and residence. Food frequency questionnaires assessed dietary intake during adulthood and adolescence (ages 12-13 years). Intakes of total, raw/short-cooked, and long-cooked cabbage and sauerkraut were categorized into low, medium, and high servings per week, and odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated using conditional logistic regression.
What was found
High versus low total cabbage/sauerkraut consumption (>4 vs. <=2 servings/week) was inversely associated with breast cancer during adolescence (multivariate OR = 0.36; 95% CI = 0.18-0.71, p trend < 0.01) and adulthood (multivariate OR = 0.50; 95% CI = 0.23-1.06, p trend = 0.08). For raw/short-cooked cabbage/sauerkraut (>3 vs. <=1.5 servings/week), high intake was significantly associated with reduced risk during both adolescence (OR = 0.35; 95% CI = 0.16-0.72, p trend < 0.01) and adulthood (OR = 0.37; 95% CI = 0.17-0.78, p trend < 0.01). Joint high adolescent and high adult raw/short-cooked intake versus joint low intake showed an OR of 0.23 (95% CI = 0.07-0.65). Long-cooked cabbage/sauerkraut consumption was low and was not significantly associated with risk.
Why it matters
This study suggests that timing and cooking preparation of cruciferous vegetables, particularly minimally cooked cabbage consumed during adolescence, may be an important dietary factor linked to lower breast cancer risk in migrant populations.
Limits
The retrospective case-control design introduces risk of recall bias, particularly for diet during early adolescence (ages 12-13). The sample size is modest (131 cases, 284 controls), producing wide confidence intervals for joint exposure categories. Results from this specific Polish migrant group may not generalize to other populations, and residual confounding from unmeasured lifestyle factors cannot be ruled out.
Cited by
- supports Epidemiological studies indicate that higher intake of raw cruciferous vegetables is associated with a greater reduction in cancer risk (such as breast and lung cancer) than cooked cruciferous vegetables.