Dietary intake of antioxidant vitamins and risk of pancreatic cancer: the Japan public health center-based prospective study

TL;DR

A study in Japan found that antioxidant vitamin intake may help reduce pancreatic cancer risk in overweight individuals.

Contribution

The study explores antioxidant vitamin intake and pancreatic cancer risk in a large Japanese cohort, focusing on BMI subgroups.

Findings

No overall inverse association found between antioxidant vitamin intake and pancreatic cancer risk.

Overweight individuals (BMI ≥25) showed reduced risk with higher intake of retinol, β-carotene, and α-carotene.

Findings suggest antioxidant vitamins may help prevent pancreatic cancer in overweight subjects.

Abstract

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the development of pancreatic cancer, but the association between antioxidant vitamin intake and risk of pancreatic cancer in Asian populations has not been establish.

We investigated the association between antioxidant vitamin intake and pancreatic cancer risk in a Japanese population based on the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study, a cohort study including 89,693 Japanese men and women aged 45–74 years. Baseline data on medical history, lifestyle factors, and antioxidant vitamin intake were collected via validated questionnaires. Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for quartiles of antioxidant vitamin intake.

During an average follow-up was 15.1 years, we documented 581 incident pancreatic cancers. Our results did not indicate a potential inverse association between antioxidant vitamin intake and risk of pancreatic cancer. When stratified by body mass index, the inverse association between dietary retinol, β-carotene, α-carotene, and β-cryptoxanthin intake and risk of pancreatic cancer indicated a statistically significant association among those with BMI ≥ 25 but not BMI < 25. Corresponding multivariable hazard ratios for the highest versus lowest quartiles among BMI ≥ 25 were intake of retinol activity equivalents of 0.52 (0.31–0.86; P = 0.01), β-carotene equivalent of 0.53 (0.31–0.91; P = 0.01), α-carotene of 0.57 (0.33–0.97; P = 0.05), and β-cryptoxanthin of 0.56 (0.33–0.95; P = 0.02).

Our findings suggests that intake of antioxidant vitamins, particularly retinol activity equivalents and β-carotene equivalents, may play a role in the prevention of pancreatic cancer in overweight subjects.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00394-025-03874-9.

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