WASHINGTON — High blood levels of a trans fatty acid found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oil were linked to an increased risk for nonaggressive prostate cancer in a review of data from the Physicians' Health Study, Dr. Jorge E. Chavarro reported at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
The association between prostate cancer and trans fatty acid type 18:2, which results from the hydrogenation of linoleic acid, was statistically significant but was limited to organ-confined tumors, noted Dr. Chavarro of Harvard University, Boston.
The investigators reviewed blood samples from more than 14,000 adults, and measured trans fatty acid levels in the blood of 479 men with prostate cancer and 491 age-matched controls. “We can't produce trans fatty acids, so measurements of tissue levels reflect our intake,” he noted.
The risk of organ-confined prostate cancer was significantly greater among subjects in the highest quintile of type 18:2 trans fatty acid blood levels than among those in the lowest quintile.
In general, there were no differences in the median levels of other types of trans fatty acids between cases and controls, Dr. Chavarro said.