Alcohol intake has been associated to breast cancer in pre and postmenopausal women; however results are inconclusive regarding tumor hormonal receptor status, and potential modifying factors like age at start drinking. Therefore, we investigated the relation between alcohol intake and the risk of breast cancer using prospective observational data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Up to 334,850 women, aged 35-70 years at baseline, were recruited in ten European countries and followed up an average of 11 years. Alcohol intake at baseline and average lifetime alcohol intake were calculated from country-specific dietary and lifestyle questionnaires. The study outcomes were the Hazard ratios (HR) of developing breast cancer according to hormonal receptor status. During 3,670,439 person-years, 11,576 incident breast cancer cases were diagnosed. Alcohol intake was significantly related to breast cancer risk, for each 10 g/day increase in alcohol intake the HR increased by 4.2% (95% CI: 2.7-5.8%). Taking 0 to 5 g/day as reference, alcohol intake of >5 to 15 g/day was related to a 5.9% increase in breast cancer risk (95% CI: 1-11%). Significant increasing trends were observed between alcohol intake and ER+/PR+, ER-/PR-, HER2- and ER-/PR-HER2- tumors. Breast cancer risk was stronger among women who started drinking prior to first full-time pregnancy. Overall, our results confirm the association between alcohol intake and both hormone receptor positive and hormone receptor negative breast tumors, suggesting that timing of exposure to alcohol drinking may affect the risk. Therefore, women should be advised to control their alcohol consumption. What's new? Although it is now established that alcohol consumption increases breast cancer risk, many questions remain. Using a prospective study design with 11,576 incident breast cancer cases across 10 European countries, the authors confirmed the increased risk of alcohol on breast cancer development. They further show that women who started drinking before their first full-term pregnancy have a higher risk than women who started afterwards. These effects were observed in hormone-receptor positive and -negative tumors pointing to non-hormonal pathways that need to be further investigated.

Analyses of genome-wide association study (GWAS) data have revealed that detectable genetic mosaicism involving large (>2 Mb) structural autosomal alterations occurs in a fraction of individuals. We present results for a set of 24,849 genotyped individuals (total GWAS set II [TGSII]) in whom 341 large autosomal abnormalities were observed in 168 (0.68%) individuals. Merging data from the new TGSII set with data from two prior reports (the Gene-Environment Association Studies and the total GWAS set I) generated a large dataset of 127,179 individuals; we then conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the patterns of detectable autosomal mosaicism (n = 1,315 events in 925 [0.73%] individuals). Restricting to events >2 Mb in size, we observed an increase in event frequency as event size decreased. The combined results underscore that the rate of detectable mosaicism increases with age (p value = 5.5 x 3 10(-31)) and is higher in men (p value = 0.002) but lower in participants of African ancestry (p value = 0.003). In a subset of 47 individuals from whom serial samples were collected up to 6 years apart, complex changes were noted over time and showed an overall increase in the proportion of mosaic cells as age increased. Our large combined sample allowed for a unique ability to characterize detectable genetic mosaicism involving large structural events and strengthens the emerging evidence of non-random erosion of the genome in the aging population.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Atrophic corpus gastritis (ACG) is believed to be an early precursor of gastric adenocarcinoma. We aimed to investigate trends of ACG in Northern Sweden, from 1990 through 2009, and to identify possible risk factors.

METHODS: We randomly selected serum samples collected from 5284 participants in 1990, 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009, as part of the population-based, cross-sectional Northern Sweden Multinational Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease study (ages 35-64 y). Information was collected on sociodemographic, anthropometric, lifestyle, and medical factors using questionnaires. Serum samples were analyzed for levels of pepsinogen I, to identify participants with functional ACG; data from participants with ACG were compared with those from frequency-matched individuals without ACG (controls). Blood samples were analyzed for antibodies against H pylori and CagA. Associations were estimated with unconditional logistic regression models.

RESULTS: Overall, 305 subjects tested positive for functional ACG, based on level of pepsinogen I. The prevalence of ACG in participants 55-64 y old decreased, from 124/1000 to 49/1000 individuals, between 1990 and 2009. However, the prevalence of ACG increased, from 22/1000 to 64/1000 individuals among participants 35-44 y old during this time period. CagA seropositivity was associated with risk for ACG (odds ratio, 2.29; 95% confidence interval, 1.69-3.12). Other risk factors included diabetes, low level of education, and high body mass index. The association between body mass index and ACG was confined to individuals 35-44 y old; in this group, overweight and obesity were associated with a 2.8-fold and 4.7-fold increased risk of ACG, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Among residents of Northern Sweden, the prevalence of ACG increased from 1990 through 2009 specifically among adults 35-44 y old. The stabilizing seroprevalence of H pylori and increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity might contribute to this unexpected trend; studies are needed to determine whether these changes have affected the incidence of gastric cancer.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 x 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms.

BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease characterised by reduced bone mineral density and increased susceptibility to fracture; these traits are highly heritable. Both common and rare copy number variants (CNVs) potentially affect the function of genes and may influence disease risk.

AIM: To identify CNVs associated with osteoporotic bone fracture risk.

METHOD: We performed a genome-wide CNV association study in 5178 individuals from a prospective cohort in the Netherlands, including 809 osteoporotic fracture cases, and performed in silico lookups and de novo genotyping to replicate in several independent studies.

RESULTS: A rare (population prevalence 0.14%, 95% CI 0.03% to 0.24%) 210 kb deletion located on chromosome 6p25.1 was associated with the risk of fracture (OR 32.58, 95% CI 3.95 to 1488.89; p=8.69×10(-5)). We performed an in silico meta-analysis in four studies with CNV microarray data and the association with fracture risk was replicated (OR 3.11, 95% CI 1.01 to 8.22; p=0.02). The prevalence of this deletion showed geographic diversity, being absent in additional samples from Australia, Canada, Poland, Iceland, Denmark, and Sweden, but present in the Netherlands (0.34%), Spain (0.33%), USA (0.23%), England (0.15%), Scotland (0.10%), and Ireland (0.06%), with insufficient evidence for association with fracture risk.

CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that deletions in the 6p25.1 locus may predispose to higher risk of fracture in a subset of populations of European origin; larger and geographically restricted studies will be needed to confirm this regional association. This is a first step towards the evaluation of the role of rare CNVs in osteoporosis.

Objective: To investigate the association between metabolic risk factors (individually and in combination) and risk of gallbladder cancer (GBC). Methods: The metabolic syndrome and cancer project (Me-Can) includes cohorts from Norway, Austria, and Sweden with data on 578,700 men and women. We used Cox proportional hazard regression models to calculate relative risks of GBC by body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, and plasma levels of glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides as continuous standardised variables and their standardised sum of metabolic syndrome (MetS) z-score. The risk estimates were corrected for random error in measurements. Results: During an average follow-up of 12.0 years (SD = 7.8), 184 primary gallbladder cancers were diagnosed. Relative risk of gallbladder cancer per unit increment of z-score adjusted for age, smoking status and BMI (except for BMI itself) and stratified by birth year, sex and sub-cohorts, was for BMI 1.31 (95% confidence interval 1.11, 1.57) and blood glucose 1.76 (1.10, 2.85). Further analysis showed that the effect of BMI on GBC risk is larger among women in the premenopausal age group (1.84 (1.23, 2.78)) compared to those in the postmenopausal age group (1.29 (0.93, 1.79)). For the other metabolic factors no significant association was found (mid blood pressure 0.96 (0.71, 1.31), cholesterol 0.84 (0.66, 1.06) and serum triglycerides 1.16 (0.82, 1.64)). The relative risk per one unit increment of the MetS z-score was 1.37 (1.07, 1.73). Conclusion: This study showed that increasing BMI and impaired glucose metabolism pose a possible risk for gallbladder cancer. Beyond the individual factors, the results also showed that the metabolic syndrome as an entity presents a risk constellation for the occurrence of gallbladder cancer.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has formulated guidelines for a healthy diet to prevent chronic diseases and postpone death worldwide. Our objective was to investigate the association between the WHO guidelines, measured using the Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI), and all-cause mortality in elderly men and women from Europe and the United States. We analyzed data from 396,391 participants (42% women) in 11 prospective cohort studies who were 60 years of age or older at enrollment (in 1988-2005). HDI scores were based on 6 nutrients and 1 food group and ranged from 0 (least healthy diet) to 70 (healthiest diet). Adjusted cohort-specific hazard ratios were derived by using Cox proportional hazards regression and subsequently pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. During 4,497,957 person-years of follow-up, 84,978 deaths occurred. Median HDI scores ranged from 40 to 54 points across cohorts. For a 10-point increase in HDI score (representing adherence to an additional WHO guideline), the pooled adjusted hazard ratios were 0.90 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.87, 0.93) for men and women combined, 0.89 (95% CI: 0.85, 0.92) for men, and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.85, 0.95) for women. These estimates translate to an increased life expectancy of 2 years at the age of 60 years. Greater adherence to the WHO guidelines is associated with greater longevity in elderly men and women in Europe and the United States.

Adiposity is a risk factor for colon cancer, but underlying mechanisms are not well understood. We evaluated the extent to which 11 biomarkers with inflammatory and metabolic actions mediate the association of adiposity measures, waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI), with colon cancer in men and women. We analyzed data from a prospective nested case-control study among 662 incident colon cancer cases matched within risk sets to 662 controls. Relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using conditional logistic regression. The percent effect change and corresponding CIs were estimated after adjusting for biomarkers shown to be associated with colon cancer risk. After multivariable adjustment, WC was associated with colon cancer risk in men (top vs. bottom tertile RR 1.68, 95% CI 1.06-2.65; ptrend  = 0.02) and in women (RR 1.67, 95% CI 1.09-2.56; ptrend  = 0.03). BMI was associated with risk only in men. The association of WC with colon cancer was accounted mostly for by three biomarkers, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, non-high-molecular-weight adiponectin and soluble leptin receptor, which in combination explained 46% (95% CI 37-57%) of the association in men and 50% (95% CI 40-65%) of the association in women. Similar results were observed for the associations with BMI in men. These data suggest that alterations in levels of these metabolic biomarkers may represent a primary mechanism of action in the relation of adiposity with colon cancer. Further studies are warranted to determine whether altering their concentrations may reduce colon cancer risk.

Background There are plausible mechanisms for how dietary docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, could prevent Crohn's disease (CD).

Aim To conduct a prospective study to investigate the association between increased intake of DHA and risk of CD.

Methods Overall, 229702 participants were recruited from nine European centres between 1991 and 1998. At recruitment, dietary intakes of DHA and fatty acids were measured using validated food frequency questionnaires. The cohort was monitored through to June 2004 to identify participants who developed incident CD. In a nested case-control analysis, each case was matched with four controls; odds ratios (ORs) were calculated for quintiles of DHA intake, adjusted for total energy intake, smoking, other dietary fatty acids, dietary vitamin D and body mass index.

Results Seventy-three participants developed incident CD. All higher quintiles of DHA intake were inversely associated with development of CD; the highest quintile had the greatest effect size (OR=0.07; 95% CI=0.02-0.81). The OR trend across quintiles of DHA was 0.54 (95% CI=0.30-0.99, P-trend=0.04). Including BMI in the multivariate analysis, due to its correlation with dietary fat showed similar associations. There were no associations with the other dietary fatty acids studied.

Conclusion There were inverse associations, with a biological gradient between increasing dietary docosahexaenoic acid intakes and incident Crohn's disease. Further studies in other populations should measure docosahexaenoic acid to determine if the association is consistent and the hypothesis tested in randomised controlled trials of purely docosahexaenoic acid supplementation.

The intake of the mainly plant-derived n-3 PUFA alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) has been reported to be associated with a lower risk of CHD. However, the results have been inconsistent. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to examine the association between the intake of ALA and the risk of CHD. Potential effect modification by the intake of long-chain n-3 PUFA (n-3 LCPUFA) was also investigated. Data from eight American and European prospective cohort studies including 148 675 women and 80 368 men were used. The outcome measure was incident CHD (CHD event and death). During 4-10 years of follow-up, 4493 CHD events and 1751 CHD deaths occurred. Among men, an inverse association (not significant) between the intake of ALA and the risk of CHD events and deaths was observed. For each additional gram of ALA consumed, a 15% lower risk of CHD events (hazard ratios (HR) 0.85, 95% CI 0.72, 1.01) and a 23% lower risk of CHD deaths (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.58, 1.01) were observed. No consistent association was observed among women. No effect modification by the intake of n-3 LCPUFA was observed.