Dietary vitamins intake and obesity among breast cancer females, Egypt: A case-control study

Mahmoud, Walaa S. H.; Hammad, Doaa Y.; Azmy, Osama; El Shebini, Salwa M.; Ahmed, Nihad H.; Tantawy, Ibrahim; Tawfik, Hanaa; Gomaa, Mohammed M. M; Kamel, Mahmoud M.; Abu-Elghait, Mohammed; Yousef, Walaa

doi:10.21608/ejnh.2024.384583

Dietary vitamins intake and obesity among breast cancer females, Egypt: A case-control study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ National Research Centre, Egypt.

² Faculty of Science, Menoufia University. Egypt.

³ National Cancer Institute, Cairo University. Egypt.

⁴ Bahyea Centre for early detection and Cancer treatment.

⁵ Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University. Egypt.

10.21608/ejnh.2024.384583

Abstract

The incidence rate of breast cancer (BC) varies greatly worldwide. Vitamins are essential nutrients for human metabolism, taking part in an essential function; enhance immune response, alleviate oxidative stress, inhibit angiogenesis, and induce apoptosis. Obesity is associated with an increased breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women and may contribute to worse outcome. The study aims to:a) explore a relation between daily vitamins intake and BC risk in a sample of Egyptian women, b) study the associations between obesity and breast cancer risk. This is a case-control study, where 222 women were divided into three groups, Group 1a: 83 malignant tumor lesion group, Group 1b: 54 women diagnosed with benign lesion, and Group 2: 85 healthy control women. Relevant anthropometric measurements, 24 dietary recalls and food frequency were reported. Result, showed that, body mass index, weight, waist and hip circumference, were all significantly higher among benign and BC patients compared to controls (p≤0.0001).Data revealed very low daily intake of vitamin D, C, folic acid and pantothenic acid with significant differences between the three groups.The daily intake of vitamins A and E reached the RDA in BC patients with a significant difference between groups; however, the difference was not significant for vitamin E. Vitamins B daily intake reported high levels especially for B12. The results showed that weight, BMI, waist, and hip circumference were all significantly higher in both the benign tumor group and the BC group compared to the healthy control group. The results suggested that maintaining a healthy weight and consuming a diet rich in vitamin C, D, folic acid, and pantothenic acid can help lower the risk of BC.

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