Purpose: Epidemiologic evidence for the association between methyl-donor nutrient intake and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk remains inconclusive. We aimed to examine the relationship between intake of vitamins of the B group, methionine, total choline and betaine and CRC risk, in a population from the CRC screening programme in the Basque Country.
Design: This observational study included 308 patients with CRC and 308 age- and sex-matched subjects as controls. During recruitment, dietary, anthropometric, lifestyle, socioeconomic, demographic, and health status information was collected. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) for CRC risk.
Results: The adjusted ORs for CRC risk decreased with higher intakes of choline and betaine (p < 0.05). After further adjustment for folate, high intake of choline and betaine remained associated with a reduced CRC risk (adjusted model for choline, OR third tertile vs first tertile = 0.45, 95% CI 0.26-0.80, p = 0.006; for betaine, OR third tertile vs first tertile = 0.27, 95% CI 0.16-0.47, p < 0.001). Regarding the other nutrients, our findings indicated a non-significant decrease in CRC risk with the high level of intake.
Conclusions: Our data suggest that choline and betaine intake influence CRC risk in the studied population.
Keywords: Case–control study; Colorectal cancer; Diet; Nutrients; One-carbon metabolism; Protective factors.
© 2023. The Author(s).