Dietary fibre intake associated with reduced risk of oesophageal cancer in Xinjiang, China

Objective: To ascertain the relationship between dietary fibre intake and risk of oesophageal cancer in remote northwest China, where the cancer incidence is known to be high. Methods: A case–control study was conducted during 2008–2009 in the Urumqi and Shihezi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Participants were 359 incident oesophageal cancer patients and 380 hospital-based controls. Information on habitual foods consumption was obtained by face-to-face interview, from which dietary fibre intakes were estimated using the Chinese food composition tables. Results: The oesophageal cancer patients reported lower intake levels of total dietary fibre and fibre derived from vegetables and fruits than those of controls. Overall, regular intake of fibre was inversely associated with the oesophageal cancer risk, the adjusted odds ratio being 0.47 (95% confidence interval 0.32–0.69) for the highest (>27 g) versus the lowest (<16 g) tertile of daily intake, with a significant dose-response relationship (p = 0.004). Similar reductions in risk were also apparent for high intake levels of vegetable fibre and fruit fibre, but to a lesser extent for cereal fibre. Conclusion: Habitual intake of dietary fibre was associated with a reduced risk of oesophageal cancer for adults in northwest China.