Diet habits, alcohol drinking, tobacco smoking, green tea drinking, and the risk of carcinoma in the Chinese esophageal population squamous cell

Objective This study aims to investigate the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in relation to exogenous factors in a rural area of China with a, high incidence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods A population-based case-control study was conducted in Yangzhong County, Jiangsu Province, China, with 355 histologically confirmed esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cases recruited between 1 January 2004 and 28 February 2006 and 408 controls matched by sex and age, randomly selected from the local population. Results Stratified logistic regression analysis by sex revealed that hot-temperature food items, pork braised in brown sauce and old stocked rice intake could increase the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with odds ratio of 2.127 (95% confidence interval: 1.394-3.245), 2.059 (95% confidence interval: 1.417-2.993) and 9.059 (95% confidence interval: 5.930-13.840), respectively, in men and 3.048 (95% confidence interval: 1.733-5.364), 1.914 (95% confidence interval: 1.159-3.162) and 14.532 (95% confidence interval: 7.816-27.019 9), respectively, in women, whereas diet high in salt and chili, tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking only showed possible risk effects in men with odds ratio 2.338 (95% confidence interval: 1.568-3.485), 3.378 (95% confidence interval: 2.117-5.389),1.976 (95% confidence interval: 1.337-2.921) and 2.197 (95% confidence interval: 1.510-3.195), respectively. Green tea drinking showed a protective effect in women (odds ratio=0.257; 95% confidence interval: 0.070-0.941). Conclusions Findings from this study provided evidence that dietary habits, tobacco-smoking and alcohol drinking contribute to the etiology of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. A healthy dietary habit, with smoking cessation and alcohol controlling is of a great importance in the prevention of esophageal cancer.