Insights & Discussion
Regular consumption of raw carrots, specifically 2-4 or more per week, is associated with a decreased risk of colorectal cancer.
The methodology of the study involved examining the risk of being diagnosed with colorectal cancer in correlation with carrot intake in a Danish population of 57,053 individuals over a lengthy follow-up period. Self-reported intake of raw carrots was recorded, setting a baseline of 2-4 or more carrots each week as the metric for study.
Results derived from this study show that individuals who consumed 2-4 or more raw carrots per week showed a decrease in the risk of colorectal cancer, as compared to individuals with no intake of the same. However, an intake of less than 2-4 carrots per week did not show a significant association with reduced colorectal cancer risk. Therefore, this supports the notion from previous studies that stated consumption of carrots could have a preventive effect against colorectal cancer.
Discover Related Insights
Moderate consumption of carrots is associated with a lower incidence of colorectal cancer, implying a potential cancer prevention effect in a certain dose-range.
2022 Frontiers in Nutrition Association of Dietary Carrot/Carotene Intakes With Colorectal Cancer Incidence and Mortality in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial Jiang Z, Chen H, Li M, Wang W, Fan C, Long F
Cohort Study Carotene Carrot Colorectal Cancer
The research analysed the dietary intake of carrots/carotene and their relationship to colorectal cancer incidence and mortality in a cohort from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening. The study involved 101,680 participants who joined the cohort between November 1993 and July 2001. The hazard ratios were estimated through multivariable Cox regression analyses. Additionally, subgroup analyses and interaction tests were conducted to check for potential effect modifiers. A generalised additive model was used to examine the non-linear trend of the exposure to cancer-related outcomes.
In total, the study documented 1,100 colorectal cancer cases and 443 cancer-related deaths. It was discovered that dietary carrot intake was linked to a 21% lower risk of colorectal cancer incidence for those in the 4th quintile group compared to the lowest quintile group. Increase in carrot intakes, on a per standard deviation, did not reveal any statistically significant associations with the disease incidence. There were no significant associations found between dietary α-, and β-carotene intake and colorectal cancer incidence, nor were there any associations between carrot/carotene intakes and cancer mortality. They also observed no non-linear dose-response relationships between dietary carrot, α-, and β-carotene intake and colorectal cancer incidence and mortality. Notably, the study found that smoking status could potentially modify the association of dietary carrot intake with incidence of colorectal cancer, but not mortality.