Pizza has been favourably related to the risk of prostate cancer in North America. Scanty information, however, is available on sex hormone-related cancer sites. We therefore studied the role of pizza consumption on the risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancers using data from three hospital-based case–control studies conducted in Italy between 1991 and 2002. These included 2569 women with breast cancer, 1031 with ovarian cancer, 1294 men with prostate cancer, and a total of 4864 controls. Compared with non-pizza eaters, the multivariate odds ratios for eaters were 0.97 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.86–1.10) for breast, 1.06 (95% CI 0.89–1.26) for ovarian and 1.04 (95% CI 0.88–1.23) for prostate cancer. Corresponding estimates for regular eaters (i.e. ≥1 portion per week) were 0.92 (95% CI 0.78–1.08), 1.00 (95% CI 0.80–1.25) and 1.12 (95% CI 0.88–1.43), respectively. Our results do not show a relevant role of pizza on the risk of sex hormone-related cancers. The difference with selected studies from North America suggests that dietary and lifestyle correlates of pizza eating vary between different populations and social groups.
aIstituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, 20157 Milan, Italy
bServizio di Epidemiologia e Biostatistica, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, 33081 Aviano (PN), Italy
cIstituto Tumori “Fondazione Pascale,” Cappella dei Cangiani, 80100 Naples, Italy
dInfection and Cancer Epidemiology Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer, F-69372 Lyon, cédex 08, France
eGastroenterology and Nutrient Unit, National Institute for Cancer Research, 16100 Genoa, Italy
fIstituto di Statistica Medica e Biometria, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Correspondence to: Silvano Gallus, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Via Eritrea 62, 20157 Milan, Italy
Tel: +39 02 39014 526; fax: +39 02 33200231;
e-mail: gallus@marionegri.it
Received 10 December 2004 Accepted 9 January 2005
