Skip Navigation


American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on June 27, 2007
American Journal of Epidemiology 2007 166(5):576-581; doi:10.1093/aje/kwm113
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
166/5/576    most recent
kwm113v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sacerdote, C.
Right arrow Articles by Vineis, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sacerdote, C.
Right arrow Articles by Vineis, P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

American Journal of Epidemiology © The Author 2007. Published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Lactase Persistence and Bitter Taste Response: Instrumental Variables and Mendelian Randomization in Epidemiologic Studies of Dietary Factors and Cancer Risk

Carlotta Sacerdote1, Simonetta Guarrera2, George Davey Smith3, Sara Grioni4, Vittorio Krogh4, Giovanna Masala5, Amalia Mattiello6, Domenico Palli5, Salvatore Panico6, Rosario Tumino7, Fabrizio Veglia2, Giuseppe Matullo2 and Paolo Vineis2,8

1 Centre for Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention (CPO Piemonte), Turin, Italy
2 Institute for Scientific Interchange (ISI) Foundation, Turin, Italy
3 MRC Centre for Causal Analyses in Translational Epidemiology, Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
4 Epidemiology Unit, National Cancer Institute, Milan, Italy
5 Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, Centre for the Study of Cancer Prevention (CSPO), Scientific Institute of Tuscany, Florence, Italy
6 Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Federico II University, Naples, Italy
7 Ragusa Cancer Registry, Ragusa, Italy
8 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Correspondence to Dr. Paolo Vineis, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College London, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, United Kingdom (e-mail: p.vineis{at}imperial.ac.uk).

Received for publication October 16, 2006. Accepted for publication March 7, 2007.

Consumption of dairy products seems to increase the risk of cancer at several sites, while intake of cruciferous vegetables could have protective effects. However, these dietary intakes are subject to measurement error, and associations with cancer could be due to confounders. Mendelian randomization has been suggested as a way to overcome confounding by exploiting the random allocation of alleles from parents to offspring. In mid-2006, the authors conducted a study of allele frequencies for the lactase (LCT) and taste receptor, type 2, member 38 (TAS2R38) genes, including 634 volunteers recruited (1992–1998) from the Italian branch of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. The authors hypothesized that there would be a lower milk intake among carriers of the LCT CC genotype and a different intake of cruciferous vegetables among carriers of the TAS2R38 variant. Overall, the frequency of the LCT T allele was higher in northern Italy than in southern Italy. Food intake was associated with gene variants. An association was evident for ice cream and LCT variants (p = 0.004); less so for milk intake. In addition, the TAS2R38 variant showed a geographic gradient and an association with cruciferous vegetable intake. These results suggest that the LCT and TAS2R38 variants are good candidates for Mendelian randomization studies of cancer and other health outcomes.

diet; lactase; neoplasms; polymorphism, genetic; taste; T2R taste receptors

Abbreviations: EPIC, European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition; LCT, lactase [gene]; TAS2R38, taste receptor, type 2, member 38 [gene]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Eur Heart JHome page
M. Kivimaki, G. D. Smith, N. J. Timpson, D. A. Lawlor, G. D. Batty, M. Kahonen, M. Juonala, T. Ronnemaa, J. S.A. Viikari, T. Lehtimaki, et al.
Lifetime body mass index and later atherosclerosis risk in young adults: examining causal links using Mendelian randomization in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study
Eur. Heart J., October 2, 2008; 29(20): 2552 - 2560.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.