beta-carotene and Breast-Diseases

Carotenoid (CARs: beta-carotene BC and/or canthaxanthin CX) supplementation have been shown to be chemopreventive in animals, since 1980, against direct or indirect chemical carcinogenesis/photo-carcinogenesis of the skin, breast, stomach, salivary glands, colon-rectum, urinary bladder, and against transplanted tumors. This action could be either independent of or dependent on pro-vitamin A activity of BC. In vitro, both BC and CX proved to be antimutagenic and to have anti-malignant transformation properties in cell cultures. Preliminary interventions in humans with BC +/- CX prevented the onset of second primary tumors in lung, colon, urinary bladder, and head and neck. The powerful antioxidant properties of CARs, possibly associated with their retinoid potential, played a role in all the above observations, producing free-radical quenching and immunostimulation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Topics: Animals; Antibody Formation; beta Carotene; Breast Diseases; Carotenoids; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Neoplasms; Vitamin A

To evaluate the validity of fruit and vegetable intakes as it relates to plasma carotenoid and vitamin C concentrations in Chinese women, using three classification schemes.. Intakes were calculated using an interviewer-administered FFQ. Fruits and vegetables, botanical groups and high-nutrient groups were evaluated. These three classification schemes were compared with plasma carotenoid and vitamin C concentrations from blood samples collected within 1 week of questionnaire completion.. Shanghai, China.. Participants (n 2031) comprised women who had participated in a case-control study of diet and breast-related diseases nested within a randomized trial of breast self-examination among textile workers (n 266 064). Fruit intake was significantly (P < 0·05) and positively associated with plasma concentrations of α-tocopherol, β-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, α-carotene, β-carotene, retinyl palmitate and vitamin C. Fruit intake was inversely associated with γ-tocopherol and lutein + zeaxanthin concentrations. Vegetable consumption was significantly and positively associated with γ-tocopherol and β-cryptoxanthin concentrations. Each botanical and high-nutrient group was also significantly associated with particular plasma nutrient concentrations. Fruit and vegetable intakes and most plasma nutrient concentrations were significantly associated with season of interview.. These results suggest that the manner in which fruits and vegetables are grouped leads to different plasma nutrient exposure information, which may be an important consideration when testing and generating hypotheses regarding disease risk in relation to diet. Interview season should be considered when evaluating the associations of reported intake and plasma nutrients with disease outcomes.

Topics: Adult; alpha-Tocopherol; Ascorbic Acid; beta Carotene; Biomarkers; Breast Diseases; Carotenoids; Case-Control Studies; China; Cryptoxanthins; Diet; Energy Intake; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Fruit; gamma-Tocopherol; Humans; Linear Models; Lutein; Lycopene; Micronutrients; Middle Aged; Surveys and Questionnaires; Textile Industry; Vegetables; Vitamins; Workforce; Xanthophylls; Zeaxanthins

A randomized double blind placebo-controlled trial of efficiency of a dietary supplement "Karinat" in patients with benign breast disease was carried out. Karinat contains beta-carotene 2.5 mg, alpha-tocopherol 5 mg, ascorbic acid 30 mg and garlic powder 150 mg per one tablet. Out of 66 patients, 33 patients were given karinat, 33 were given placebo. The patients reccived a tablet of karinal or placebo twice a day during 6 months. Examinations of the patients included clinical estimation of symptoms of mastopathy and dysalgomenorrhea, breast sonography and mammography. It was found that karinat reduced the severity of mastalgia, premenstrual syndrome, dysmenorrhea and algomenorrhea and caused regression of palpable symptoms of the breast fibromatosis. On the whole karinat had positive action in 75.8% that was significantly greater by 45.5% as compared with placebo. Karinat may be useful for the treatment of patients with benign breast disease.

Topics: Adult; alpha-Tocopherol; Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; beta Carotene; Breast Diseases; Breast Neoplasms; Data Interpretation, Statistical; Dietary Supplements; Double-Blind Method; Dysmenorrhea; Female; Fibroadenoma; Humans; Mammography; Palpation; Placebos; Premenstrual Syndrome; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Ultrasonography, Mammary

In 1998-2000, a case-control study of breast cancer was conducted in Heidelberg, Germany. Three hundred ten consecutively recruited cases with primary breast cancer were matched according to 10-yr age groups to 353 controls with conditions unrelated to diet or endocrine disorders. Intake of raw vegetables, total vegetables, and whole-grain products was inversely associated with breast cancer risk (highest vs. lowest quartile adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.31-0.84; OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.38-1.02; and OR = 0.57; 95% CI = 0.34-0.95, respectively). Also, high intake of some selected vitamins and minerals possessing putative DNA-stabilizing properties displayed significant inverse risk associations. Adjusted ORs were as follows: vitamin C (OR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.2-0.88), folate equivalents (OR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.25-0.88), b-carotene (OR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.27-0.80), zinc (OR = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.15-0.78), and copper (OR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.31-1.03). In contrast, no significant association with risk was seen for an increased intake of fruits, cooked vegetables, fiber, calcium, manganese, or iron. In this population of German women, components of raw vegetables and some micronutrients appear to decrease breast cancer risk.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Ascorbic Acid; beta Carotene; Breast Diseases; Breast Neoplasms; Case-Control Studies; Copper; Diet; Dietary Fiber; DNA; Drug Stability; Edible Grain; Female; Folic Acid; Fruit; Germany; Hot Temperature; Humans; Micronutrients; Middle Aged; Odds Ratio; Risk Factors; Vegetables; Zinc

Topics: Adjuvants, Immunologic; Adult; AIDS-Related Complex; Animals; Antimutagenic Agents; beta Carotene; Bleomycin; Breast Diseases; Carotenoids; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; Chromosome Aberrations; Diet; Female; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Lymphocytes; Male; Menstruation Disturbances; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Pain; Rats

We investigated the relationship between serum levels of retinol, beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, lycopene, alpha-tocopherol, and gamma-tocopherol as well as intakes of retinol, carotene, and vitamin E and the risks of breast cancer and proliferative benign breast disease (BBD) in a case-control study of postmenopausal women in the Boston, MA (United States) area. Serum nutrient data were available for 377 women with newly diagnosed stage I or II breast cancer and 173 women with proliferative BBD. Controls were 403 women who were evaluated at the same institutions but did not require a breast biopsy or whose biopsy revealed nonproliferative BBD. We observed no significant associations between serum levels of these micronutrients and risk of proliferative BBD or breast cancer. The risk of breast cancer was decreased among women in the highest quintile of intake of vitamin E from food sources only (odds ratio [OR] for the highest quintile = 0.4, 95 percent confidence interval [CI] = 0.2-0.9; P, trend across quintiles = 0.02) but less so for total vitamin E intake including supplements (OR = 0.7, CI = 0.4-1.3; P, trend = 0.07).

Topics: Aged; beta Carotene; Boston; Breast Diseases; Breast Neoplasms; Carotenoids; Case-Control Studies; Dietary Fats; Energy Intake; Feeding Behavior; Female; Food; Humans; Lycopene; Middle Aged; Risk Factors; Vitamin A; Vitamin E

Benign proliferative epithelial disorders (BPED) of the breast are conditions which, although not proven precursors of breast cancer, are strongly associated with increased risk of this disease. In a case-control study conducted in Adelaide, South Australia, we investigated the association between dietary factors and risk of BPED. The study involved 383 cases of biopsy-confirmed BPED, 192 controls whose biopsy did not show epithelial proliferation, and 383 unbiopsied community controls matched to cases on age and area of residence. When cases were compared with community controls, there was little variation in the risk of BPED across levels of daily intake of energy, protein, and fat, but there was some suggestion of inverse associations with daily intake of retinol, beta-carotene, and fiber; in contrast, with biopsy controls as the comparison group, risk of BPED increased with increasing energy and fat intake but varied little with retinol, beta-carotene, and fiber intake. The results of this study provide additional evidence against roles for dietary energy and fat intake in the etiology of breast cancer. However, further studies of diet and BPED should be conducted in populations surveyed cross-sectionally for breast changes, in an attempt to limit or avoid the selection and misclassification biases to which studies of putative precursor lesions are susceptible.

Topics: Adult; Aged; beta Carotene; Biopsy; Breast; Breast Diseases; Carotenoids; Case-Control Studies; Dietary Carbohydrates; Dietary Fats; Dietary Proteins; Energy Intake; Epithelium; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Vitamin A

A total of 89 subjects including 30 breast cancer patients with distal metastases, 29 patients with benign breast disease, and 30 healthy subjects were studied. Serum samples from these subjects were obtained from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Breast Cancer Serum Bank, Bethesda. Serum concentrations of vitamin A and its transport proteins (prealbumin and retinol-binding protein [RBP]), beta-carotene, vitamin E, and selenium were determined. For each of these parameters the mean for the breast cancer patients was lower than that of the healthy subjects. The differences between healthy subjects and patients with either breast cancer or benign breast disease were, however, statistically significant only in the case of RBP (p less than 0.05). In the case of vitamin A and its transport proteins these differences were reduced by comparing the cancer patients with the benign breast disease patients rather than with the healthy controls. This indicates that the low serum levels for those three parameters may be merely a consequence of disease in general rather than a feature of cancer per se.

Topics: beta Carotene; Breast Diseases; Breast Neoplasms; Carotenoids; Case-Control Studies; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Prealbumin; Retinol-Binding Proteins; Selenium; Vitamin A; Vitamin E