Abstract
Even though race, obesity and micronutrients have been shown to modify cancer risk, there are no reports on the racial differences in the association between obesity and circulating concentrations of cancer protective micronutrients. The objective of our study was to determine the association between degree of obesity as indicated by body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and % body fat (BF) and circulating concentrations of micronutrients (folate, vitamin B12, A, E and C, and total carotenoids) by race in 273 women (187 African Americans (AA) and 86 Caucasian Americans (CA) at risk for developing cervical cancer (CC). All women were categorized based on the WHO classification of BMI (normal weight <18.5, 18.5‐24.9, overweight 25‐29.9, and obese =30 kg/m2), WC tertiles (>87, >106 cm) and % BF tertiles(>33.1, >43.7). Multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the relationship between BMI, WC, and % BF and log transformed circulating concentrations of micronutrients by race after controlling for age, education, current smoking status, parity, use of hormone contraceptives, total dietary calories, healthy eating index (HEI) score and physical activity. While a positive association was observed between gamma‐tocopherol and BMI, a negative association was observed between vitamin B12 and BMI (P<0.05). Similar trends were observed with other indicators of obesity. These main associations were not significant by race. Future studies will focus on the relevance of these associations on CC risk.
Published Version
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