Oestrogen levels in serum and urine of premenopausal women eating low and high amounts of meat. Issue 9 (19th September 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Harmon, Brook E; Morimoto, Yukiko; Beckford, Fanchon; Franke, Adrian A; Stanczyk, Frank Z; Maskarinec, Gertraud
• Is Part Of: Public health nutrition. Volume 17:Issue 9(2014)
• Page Start: 2087
• Page End: 2093
• Publication Date: 2013-09-19
• Subjects: Nutrition -- Periodicals; Nutrition policy -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; 613.2
• DOI: 10.1017/S1368980013002553
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-9800

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="abs1" sec-type="general"> <title>Objective</title> <p>Based on the hypothesis that high-meat diets may increase breast cancer risk through hormonal pathways, the present analysis compared oestrogens in serum and urine by meat-eating status.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs2" sec-type="general"> <title>Design</title> <p>Intervention with repeated measures.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs3" sec-type="general"> <title>Setting</title> <p>Two randomized soya trials (BEAN1 and BEAN2) among premenopausal healthy women.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs4" sec-type="subjects"> <title>Subjects</title> <p>BEAN1 participants completed seven unannounced 24 h dietary recalls and donated five blood and urine samples over 2 years. BEAN2 women provided seven recalls and three samples over 13 months. Serum samples were analysed for oestrone (E<sub>1</sub>) and oestradiol (E<sub>2</sub>) using RIA. Nine oestrogen metabolites were measured in urine by LC–MS. Semi-vegetarians included women who reported consuming <30 g of red meat, poultry and fish daily, and pescatarians those who reported consuming <20 g of meat/poultry but >10 g of fish daily. All other women were classified as non-vegetarians. We applied mixed models to compute least-square means by vegetarian status adjusted for potential confounders.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs5" sec-type="results"> <title>Results</title> <p>The mean age of the 272 participants was 41·9 (<sc>sd</sc> 4·5) years. Serum E<sub>1</sub> (85 <italic>v.</italic> 100 pg/ml, <italic>P</italic> = 0·04) and E<sub>2</sub> (140 <italic>v.</italic> 154 pg/ml, <italic>P</italic> = 0·04) levels were lower in the thirty-seven semi-vegetarians than in the 235 non-vegetarians. The sum of the nine urinary oestrogen metabolites (183 <italic>v.</italic> 200 pmol/mg creatinine, <italic>P</italic> = 0·27) and the proportions of individual oestrogens and pathways did not differ by meat-eating status. Restricting the models to the samples collected during the luteal phase strengthened the associations.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs6" sec-type="conclusion"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Given the limitations of the study, the lower levels of serum oestrogens in semi-vegetarians than non-vegetarians need confirmation in larger populations.</p> </sec> </abstract>