Objective: To evaluate the effects of vegetable consumption and vitamin supplementation on the risk of developing transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the urinary bladder in Scottish Terriers.
Design: Case-control study.
Animals: 92 adult Scottish Terriers with TCC (cases) and 83 Scottish Terriers with other conditions (controls).
Procedure: Owners of dogs with TCC completed a questionnaire regarding their dogs' diet and intake of vitamin supplements in the year prior to diagnosis of TCC; owners of control dogs completed the questionnaire for a comparable time period. The risk (odds ratio [OR]) of developing TCC associated with diet and vitamin supplementation was determined by use of logistic regression.
Results: After adjustment for age, weight, neuter status, and coat color, there was an inverse association between consumption of vegetables at least 3 times/wk (OR, 0.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.15 to 0.62) and risk of developing TCC. For individual vegetable types, the risk of developing TCC was inversely associated with consumption of green leafy vegetables (OR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.01 to 0.97) and yellow-orange vegetables (OR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.14 to 0.70). Consumption of cruciferous vegetables was not significantly associated with a similar reduction in risk of developing TCC (OR, 0.22; CI, 0.04 to 1.11). The power of the study to detect a 50% reduction in TCC risk associated with daily vitamin supplementation was considered low (25%).
Conclusions and clinical relevance: Results suggest that consumption of certain vegetables may prevent or slow the development of TCC in Scottish Terriers.