Abstract 3621: Dietary zinc and prostate cancer: a case-control study in African Americans men.

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Prostate cancer is a solid malignancy that disproportionately affects men of African descent. Zinc, an essential dietary trace mineral, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer. Total zinc intake is lower in older African American men compared to European Americans (NHANES III). Despite the high prevalence of prostate cancer and decreased levels of zinc intake among African Americans, very little is known about the relationship between zinc intake and prostate cancer in this group. This is significant because dietary factors such as zinc intake are potentially modifiable risk factors. Here, we examine the association between self-reported zinc intake and prostate cancer in a hospital-based case-control study. Methods: Newly diagnosed African American men with histologically confirmed prostate cancer (n=141) were recruited from an urban academic urology clinic in Washington, DC. Controls (n=109) were unaffected volunteers. Usual dietary intake was assessed at the time of recruitment (2000 to 2004) with the use of a food-frequency questionnaire. Two tailed T-Test was used to compare characteristic means between cases and controls. Unconditional logistic regression was used to calculate the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Results: In this population, cases were older and had higher levels of PSA. Controls had higher zinc intake, with a mean of 13.23 mg/day (SD±13.9) versus 10.67 mg/day (SD±7.3) for cases. An increase of 1 mg/day of zinc decreased the odds of prostate cancer by 3% (OR=0.97 and 95% CI: 0.95-1.002). Controlling for age, body mass index (BMI), PSA and total food energy intake did not affect the observed association. Conclusions: Overall, these results suggest that zinc intake may have slight protective effect on prostate cancer. These analyses should be repeated in large studies to confirm these findings. Citation Format: Firas Dabbous, Umaima Al-alem, Sparkle Springfield, Abeer M. Mahmoud, Ken Batai, Ebony Shah, Chiledum Ahaghotu, Rick A. Kittles. Dietary zinc and prostate cancer: a case-control study in African Americans men. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3621. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-3621