Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Jun;57 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S14-25.
doi: 10.4111/icu.2016.57.S1.S14. Epub 2016 Jun 10.

Dietary factors associated with bladder cancer

Chandrika Piyathilake  1
Affiliations
Review

Dietary factors associated with bladder cancer

Chandrika Piyathilake. Investig Clin Urol. 2016 Jun.

Abstract

It is biologically plausible for dietary factors to influence bladder cancer risk considering that beneficial as well as harmful components of a diet are excreted through the urinary tract and in direct contact with the epithelium of the bladder. However, studies that investigated the association between dietary factors and bladder cancer (BC) risk have largely reported inconsistent results. The macronutrient intake and risk of BC could have yield inconsistent results across studies because of lack of details on the type, source and the quantities of different dietary fatty acids consumed. There is evidence to suggest that consumption of processed meat may increase BC risk. Dietary carbohydrate intake does not appear to be directly associated with BC risk. Even though a large number of studies have investigated the association between fruit/vegetable consumption/micronutrients in those and BC risk, they have yielded inconsistent results. Gender-specific subgroup analysis, details of how fruits and vegetables are consumed (raw vs. cooked), adequate control for smoking status/aggressiveness of the cancer and consideration of genetic make-up may clarify these inconsistent results. There is no strong evidence to suggest that supplementation with any common micronutrient is effective in reducing BC risk. These limitations in published research however do not totally eclipse the observation that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in processed meat along with especially smoking cessation may convey some protective effects against BC risk.

Keywords: Diet; Risk; Urinary bladder neoplasms.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: The author has nothing to disclose.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Babjuk M, Burger M, Zigeuner R, Shariat SF, van Rhijn BW, Comperat E, et al. EAU guidelines on non-muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder: update 2013. Eur Urol. 2013;64:639–653. - PubMed
    1. Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, Rebelo M, et al. Cancer incidence and mortality worldwide: sources, methods and major patterns in GLOBOCAN 2012. Int J Cancer. 2015;136:E359–E386. - PubMed
    1. SEER stat fact sheets: bladder cancer [Internet] Bethesda (MD): National Cancer Institute; 2015. [cited 2015 Dec 1]. Avaiable from: http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/urinb.html.
    1. Malats N, Real FX. Epidemiology of bladder cancer. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 2015;29:177–189. - PubMed
    1. Busby JE, Kamat AM. Chemoprevention for bladder cancer. J Urol. 2006;176:1914–1920. - PubMed