Gynecological cancers, including cervical cancer, ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer are leading causes of cancer-related death in women worldwide. Diet plays an important role in cancer development, which is widely accepted. However, the associations between dietary intakes and gynecological cancers remain unclear.
A total of 12,437 women aged over 20 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), conducted from 2007-2016, were included in this study. The relationships between 30 dietary factors (4 macronutrients, 15 vitamins, 9 minerals, caffeine and alcohol) and gynecological cancers were assessed.
We observed negative correlations of intakes of phosphorus (odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CI); 0.998 (0.996, 0.999), = 0.002) with cervical cancer, and intakes of vitamin B12 (0.812 (0.714, 0.925), = 0.002), phosphorus (0.997 (0.996, 0.999), < 0.001) and alcohol (0.971 (0.950, 0.992), = 0.009) with endometrial cancer. The data showed positive associations of intake of caffeine (1.002 (1.001, 1.003), = 0.003) with cervical cancer, and intake of copper (2.754 (1.313, 5.778), = 0.009) with endometrial cancer. In addition, we found potential negative correlations between intake of vitamin B1 ( = 0.025) and cervical cancer; zinc ( = 0.048) and ovarian cancer; and potassium ( = 0.032) and endometrial cancer. Potential positive associations were found between intake of calcium and cervical cancer ( = 0.026) and endometrial cancer ( = 0.034), and between sodium ( = 0.042) and endometrial cancer. Intakes of protein, total sugars, total fat, cholesterol, vitamin A, alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, vitamin B2, niacin, vitamin B6, food folate, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, magnesium, iron and selenium showed no relationship with gynecological cancers ( > 0.05).
Specific dietary factors were associated with gynecological cancers. More epidemiological studies are needed to validate our results.

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