Fat and
cholesterol are theorized to promote ovarian
carcinogenesis by increasing circulating
estrogen levels. Although case-control studies have reported positive associations between total and saturated fat intake and
ovarian cancer risk, two cohort studies have observed null associations.
Dietary cholesterol and eggs have been positively associated with
ovarian cancer risk. A pooled analysis was conducted on 12 cohort studies. Among 523,217 women, 2,132 incident
epithelial ovarian cancer cases were identified. Study-specific relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by Cox proportional hazards models, and then pooled using a random effects model. Total fat intake was not associated with
ovarian cancer risk (pooled multivariate RR = 1.08, 95% CI 0.86-1.34 comparing > or =45 to 30-<35% of calories). No association was observed for monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, trans-unsaturated, animal and vegetable fat,
cholesterol and egg intakes with
ovarian cancer risk. A weakly positive, but non-linear association, was observed for saturated fat intake (pooled multivariate RR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.01-1.66 comparing highest versus lowest decile). Results for histologic subtypes were similar. Overall, fat,
cholesterol and egg intakes were not associated with
ovarian cancer risk. The positive association for saturated fat intake at very high intakes merits further investigation.