An international case-control study of maternal diet during pregnancy and childhood brain tumor risk: a histology-specific analysis by food group.

Purpose: Maternal dietary data from an international collaborative case-control study on childhood brain tumors were used to evaluate associations between histology-specific risk and consumption of specific food groups during pregnancy.

Methods: Nine study centers from seven countries contributed 1218 cases and 2223 controls. Most cases were diagnosed between 1982 and 1992 and ranged in age from 0 to 19 years. Dietary consumption was measured as average grams per day.

Results: Foods generally associated with increased risk were cured meats, eggs/dairy, and oil products; foods generally associated with decreased risk were yellow-orange vegetables, fresh fish, and grains. The cured meat association was specific to astrocytomas (odds ratio [OR] range=1.8-2.5 across astrocytoma subtypes for 4th vs. 1st quartile of consumption, p trends
Conclusions: These results suggest the need for dietary analysis not only by brain tumor histology, but also by specific foods within a broad food group.