Fruit consumption and the risk of bladder cancer: A pooled analysis by the Bladder Cancer Epidemiology and Nutritional Determinants Study

While the association between fruit consumption and bladder cancer risk has been extensively reported, studies have had inadequate statistical power to investigate associations between types of fruit and bladder cancer risk satisfactorily. Fruit consumption in relation to bladder cancer risk was investigated by pooling individual data from 13 cohort studies. Cox regression models with attained age as time scale were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for intakes of total fruit and citrus fruits, soft fruits, stone fruits, tropical fruits, pome fruits and fruit products. Analyses were stratified by sex, smoking status and bladder cancer subtype. During on average 11.2 years of follow‐up, 2836 individuals developed incident bladder cancer. Increasing fruit consumption (by 100 g/day) was inversely associated with the risk of bladder cancer in women (HR = 0.92; 95% CI 0.85‐0.99). Although in women the association with fruit consumption was most evident for higher‐risk nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC; HR = 0.72; 95% CI 0.56‐0.92), the test for heterogeneity by bladder cancer subtype was nonsignificant (P‐heterogeneity = .14). Increasing fruit consumption (by 100 g/day) was not associated with bladder cancer risk in men (HR = 0.99; 95% CI 0.94‐1.03), never smokers (HR = 0.96; 95% CI 0.88‐1.05), former smokers (HR = 0.98; 95% CI 0.92‐1.05) or current smokers (HR = 0.95; 95% CI 0.89‐1.01). The consumption of any type of fruit was not found to be associated with bladder cancer risk (P values > .05). Our study supports no evidence that the consumption of specific types of fruit reduces the risk of bladder cancer. However, increasing total fruit consumption may reduce bladder cancer risk in women. What's new? Previous studies have indicated that eating fruit often may lower the risk of bladder cancer. However, none of these studies have been large enough to be definitive. In this large, prospective study, the authors found little benefit for bladder cancer risk with increased fruit consumption, although there may be a slight benefit among women.