Objective: To evaluate the relationship between cruciferous vegetables intake and risk of prostate cancer.
Methods: A systematic literature search up to June 2011 was carried out in PubMed, and the references of retrieved articles were screened. The summary relative risks with 95% confidence interval for the highest versus the lowest intake of cruciferous vegetables were calculated. Heterogeneity and publication bias were also evaluated.
Results: Seven cohort and six population-based case-control studies met the inclusion criteria of the meta-analysis. A significantly decreased prostate cancer risk was observed overall in the cruciferous vegetables intake group (relative risks = 0.90; 95% confidence interval 0.85-0.96) and the subgroup of case-control studies (relative risks = 0.79; 95% confidence interval 0.69-0.89), but not in cohort studies (relative risks = 0.95; 95% confidence interval 0.88-1.02). No heterogeneity and publication bias were detected across studies.
Conclusion: Cruciferous vegetables intake is related to the decreased risk of prostate cancer. Because of the limited number of studies, further prospective studies are needed to explore the protective effect of cruciferous vegetables on prostate cancer.
© 2011 The Japanese Urological Association.