Donate now
EN FR
11 August 2022
Dietary exposures Head and neck cancer Prostate cancer

Dietary intake of advanced glycation endproducts and cancer risk at more than 20 anatomical sites: a multinational cohort study

A new study by scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), in collaboration with researchers from the University of Vienna, Austria, and Maastricht University, the Netherlands, has found that a higher intake of dietary advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) is not associated with an increased overall risk of cancer or with an increased risk of most of the cancer types studied. A strong inverse association was observed between higher intakes of AGEs and the risk of laryngeal cancer.

This study examined data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study relating to more than 450 000 people from 9 European countries. Each individual’s diet was assessed at recruitment by dietary questionnaire, and foods and drinks were matched with a comprehensive database of the content of three well-characterized AGEs (N-epsilon-(1-carboxyethyl)-lysine [CEL]; N-epsilon-(carboxyethyl)-lysine [CML]; and N-delta-(5-hydro-5-methyl-4-imidazolon-2-yl)-ornithine [MG-H1]) in more than 200 common European foods. Hazard ratios (HRs) for associations between intake of these three AGEs and cancer risk at more than 20 anatomical sites as well as overall cancer risk were estimated with multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression.

None of the three AGEs was associated with overall cancer risk. There was a 9% higher risk of prostate cancer in the 90th percentile of MG-H1 intake (33.6 mg/day) compared with the 10th percentile (11.8 mg/day). In contrast, strong inverse associations were observed between higher intakes of any of the three AGEs (MG-H1, CML, and CEL) and risk of laryngeal cancer, with HRs per 1 standard deviation increment of 0.75, 0.74, and 0.76, respectively. These findings do not support the hypothesis that dietary AGEs contribute to higher cancer incidence.

Córdova R, Mayén AL, Knaze V, Aglago EK, Schalkwijk C, Wagner KH, et al.
Dietary intake of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) and cancer risk across more than 20 anatomical sites: a multinational cohort study
Cancer Commun, Published online 4 August 2022;
https://doi.org/10.1002/cac2.12343

Read the article

Publication status

Published in section: IARC News

Publication date: 11 August, 2022, 14:22

Direct link: https://www.iarc.who.int/news-events/dietary-intake-of-advanced-glycation-endproducts-and-cancer-risk/

© Copyright International Agency on Research for Cancer 2024

Other news