Association between dietary vitamin C intake/blood level and risk of digestive system cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies

Abstract

Experimental studies have shown that vitamin C has anti-cancer effects, but previous meta-analyses have indicated that the role of vitamin C in digestive system cancers (DSCs) is controversial. In this study, a systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationship between dietary intake/plasma concentration of vitamin C and the risk of DSC was conducted, evaluating 32 prospective studies with 1 664 498 participants. Dose–response and subgroup analyses were also performed. Systematic literature searches were performed in PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science databases until 9^th September 2023. Vitamin C intake significantly reduced DSCs risk (RR = 0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.83 to 0.93). The subgroup analyses showed the risks of oral, pharyngeal, and esophageal (OPE) cancers (0.81, 0.72 to 0.93), gastric cancer (0.81, 0.68 to 0.95), and colorectal cancer (0.89, 0.82 to 0.98) were negatively correlated with vitamin C intake, and the effect of vitamin C was different between colon cancer (0.87, 0.77 to 0.97) and rectal cancer (1.00, 0.84 to 1.19). However, plasma vitamin C concentration was only inversely associated with gastric cancer risk (0.74, 0.59 to 0.92). Dose–response analysis revealed that 250 and 65 mg day⁻¹ vitamin C intakes had the strongest protective effect against OPE and gastric cancers respectively. These estimates suggest that vitamin C intake could significantly reduce gastrointestinal cancer incidence, including OPE, gastric, and colon cancers. Plasma vitamin C has a significant reduction effect on the incidence of gastric cancer only, but additional large-scale clinical studies are needed to determine its impact on the incidence of DSCs.