Vitamin D intake, vitamin D receptor polymorphisms, and breast cancer risk among women living in the southwestern U.S.

No studies of dietary vitamin D intake and vitamin D receptor (VDR) have been conducted comparing breast risk among Hispanic women and non-Hispanic white (NHW) women. We investigated the association between vitamin D intake and breast cancer in a population-based case–control study of 1,527 NHW and 791 Hispanic breast cancer cases diagnosed in 1999–2004 in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado, and 1,599 NHW and 922 Hispanic age-matched controls. Vitamin D intake was assessed using food frequency questionnaires, and associations with breast cancer were adjusted for age, ethnicity, state, education, body mass index, smoking, age at menarche, age at first birth, parity, hormone exposure, height, and physical activity using logistic regression. BsmI, Poly A and FokI vitamin D receptor (VDR) genotypes were also measured. Dietary vitamin D intake was positively associated with breast cancer (highest vs. lowest quartile (Q ₄ vs. Q ₁): odds ratio (OR) = 1.35, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.15–1.60; P _trend = 0.003), whereas vitamin D supplement use was inversely associated with breast cancer (10+ μg/day vs. none: OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.65–0.96, P _trend = 0.01). Similar patterns in risk were observed by ethnicity and menopausal status. Positive associations with dietary vitamin D intake and inverse associations with supplement use were observed for ER+/PR+ and ER−/PR− breast cancers, but not for ER+/PR− disease. BsmI genotype significantly modified the association between dietary vitamin D and breast cancer overall. Future research is needed to better understand potential differences in breast cancer risk by vitamin D source and hormone receptor status.