We studied the relationship between nutrient intakes and
adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and distal stomach among 124 esophageal
adenocarcinoma cases, 124 distal
stomach cancer cases, and 449 controls in a population-based case-control study in eastern Nebraska. The residual method was used to adjust nutrient intake quartiles or tertiles for energy intake. We observed significant inverse associations with risk of esophageal
adenocarcinoma for dietary intakes of total
vitamin A [highest vs. lowest quartile, multivariate odds ratio (OR) = 0.5, P for trend = 0.05],
beta-cryptoxanthin (OR = 0.5, P = 0.05),
riboflavin (OR = 0.5, P = 0.01),
folate (OR = 0.5, P = 0.03),
zinc (OR = 0.5, P = 0.05),
dietary fiber (OR = 0.5, P = 0.05),
protein (OR = 0.5, P = 0.02), and
carbohydrate (OR = 0.4, P = 0.02). For distal
stomach cancer, only
vitamin C (OR = 0.6, P = 0.04),
dietary fiber (OR = 0.4, P = 0.007), and
carbohydrate (OR = 0.4, P = 0.004) were inversely associated with risk. Our analyses showed significant interaction between
dietary fat intake, but not intakes of other nutrients, and respondent type for both
cancer sites. Subgroup analyses among self-respondents revealed positive associations between saturated fat intake and risk of esophageal
adenocarcinoma (OR = 1.0, 4.1, and 4.6 for intake tertiles, P for trend = 0.02) and risk of distal
stomach cancer (OR = 1.0, 1.2, and 3.6, P = 0.03). However, no such associations were found among proxy respondents. Our data suggest that greater intake of
dietary fiber, certain
carotenoids, and
vitamins may decrease the risk of esophageal
adenocarcinoma, whereas greater intake of saturated fat may increase the risk of esophageal
adenocarcinoma and distal
stomach cancer.