Serum linoleic and total polyunsaturated fatty acids in relation to prostate and other cancers: a population-based cohort study.

Dietary and serum fatty acid composition has been implicated in the pathogenesis of prostate and other cancers, but findings have been conflicting. Cohort studies reporting serum fatty acid composition are lacking. We assessed the association of fatty acid composition determined from dietary records and serum with incident cancer of the prostate and any site in a population-based cohort of 2,002 middle-aged Finnish men who were free of cancer at baseline and during the first 4 years of follow-up. During 12.6 years of follow-up, 46 men developed prostate cancer and 151 any cancer. Men with proportions of serum nonesterified [risk ratio (RR) 0.28; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.12-0.66] and esterified linoleic acid (RR 0.37; 95% CI = 0.16-0.86) and total polyunsaturated fatty acids (RR 0.30; 95% CI = 0.12-0.71) in the upper third were less than 1/3 as likely to develop prostate cancer during follow-up. Adjustment for possible confounders like socioeconomic status, physical activity, obesity and insulin concentrations did not attenuate the association. Similar but weaker associations with any cancer were found. Dietary linoleic acid intake also tended to be inversely associated with incident prostate cancer (age-adjusted RR for the upper vs. lower third 0.55; 95% CI = 0.26-1.14, p for the trend 0.097). Substitution of linoleic acid for saturated fat in middle-aged men consuming a high saturated-fat diet may decrease the risk of prostate and other cancers, although it is possible that some of the effect may be mediated by nutrients closely associated with vegetable fats. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.