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Maternal Dietary Risk Factors in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (United States)

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Abstract

Objective: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common childhood cancer, and the second most common cause of mortality in children aged 1–14 years. Recent research has established that the disease can originate in utero, and thus maternal diet may be an important risk factor for ALL.

Methods: The Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study is a population-based case–control study of risk factors for childhood leukemia, including maternal diet. Cases (n = 138) and controls (n = 138) were matched on sex, date of birth, mother's race, Hispanicity, and county of residence at birth. Maternal dietary intake in the 12months prior to pregnancy was obtained by a 76-item food frequency questionnaire.

Results: Consumption of the vegetables (OR = 0.53; 95% CI, 0.33–0.85; p= 0.008), protein sources (OR = 0.40; 95% CI, 0.18–0.90, p= 0.03), and fruits (OR = 0.71; 95% CI, 0.49–1.04; p= 0.08) food groups were inversely associated with ALL. Among nutrients, consumption of provitamin A carotenoids (OR = 0.65, 95% CI, 0.42–1.01; p= 0.05), and the antioxidant glutathione (OR = 0.42; 95% CI, 0.16–1.10; p= 0.08) were inversely associated with ALL.

Conclusion: Maternal dietary factors, specifically the consumption of vegetables, fruits, protein sources and related nutrients, may play a role in the etiology of ALL. Dietary carotenoids and glutathione appear to be important contributors to this effect.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, 419 Warren Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720-7360, USA

    Christopher D. Jensen, Gladys Block, Patricia Buffler & Steve Selvin

  2. Yale University School of Medicine, USA

    Xiaomei Ma

  3. Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, CA, USA

    Stacy Month

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  1. Christopher D. Jensen
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  2. Gladys Block
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  3. Patricia Buffler
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  4. Xiaomei Ma
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  6. Stacy Month
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Correspondence to Christopher D. Jensen.

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Jensen, C.D., Block, G., Buffler, P. et al. Maternal Dietary Risk Factors in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (United States). Cancer Causes Control 15, 559–570 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CACO.0000036161.98734.17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CACO.0000036161.98734.17

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