Egg Consumption and the Risk of Cancer: a Multisite Case-Control Study in Uruguay

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Previous studies have suggested that egg consumption may increase the risk of colorectal cancerand some other cancers. However, the evidence is still limited. To further explore the association between eggintake and cancer risk we conducted a case-control study of 11 cancer sites in Uruguay between 1996 and 2004,including 3,539 cancer cases and 2,032 hospital controls. <br/><b>Results</b>: In the multivariable model with adjustmentfor age, sex (when applicable), residence, education, income, interviewer, smoking, alcohol intake, BMI, intakeof fruits and vegetables, grains, dairy products, total meat and other fatty foods, mate tea and energy, there wasa significant increase in the odds of cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx (OR=2.02, 95% CI: 1.19-3.44), upperaerodigestive tract (OR=1.67, 95% CI: 1.17-2.37), colorectum (OR=1.64, 95% CI: 1.02-2.63), lung (OR=1.59,95% CI: 1.10-2.29), breast (OR=2.86, 95% CI: 1.66-4.92), prostate (OR=1.89, 95% CI: 1.15-3.10), bladder(OR=2.23, 95% CI: 1.30-3.83) and all cancer sites combined (OR=1.71, 95% CI: 1.35-2.17) for a high vs. low eggintake. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: We found an association between higher intake of eggs and increased risk of several cancers.Further prospective studies of these associations are warranted.