Objectives. Previous studies of phenols such as bioflavonoids and phenolic acids at sites other than the brain have shown that their consumption decreases the risk of cancer. However, there are no studies of maternal prenatal consumption of bioflavonoids and phenolic acids and the subsequent risk of childhood brain cancer (CBC). This study focused on the two main phenols: (i) bioflavonoids (2/3 of phenol intake) of which the most common in the American diet are: quercetin (70%), kaempferol (16%), and myricetin (6%); and (ii) phenolic acids (1/3 of phenol intake). The main objective of the present study was to determine the association between maternal prenatal consumption of quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, and phenolic acids and subsequent risk of CBC.; Methods. A pair-matched case-control study (2 controls/case) design was used with individual matching on age, gender, and race. During 1975--1982, 180 population-based controls and 100 CBC cases obtained from records of the Columbus Childhood Tumor Registry (CCHTR) were identified. Comparisons were made between maternal prenatal consumption of quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, and phenolic acids among cases and controls. The food composition values for the flavonols (quercetin, kaempferol, and myricetin) were obtained from the USDA flavonol database (2003). The food composition values for the phenolic acids were obtained from Scalbert and Williamson (2000). Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios controlling for confounding by dietary, demographic, and other covariates including maternal chicken pox history and maternal prenatal intake of vitamin E, folate, and nitrite.; Results. The univariate and multivariate odds ratios for CBC of maternal prenatal consumption of log phenolic acids were similar: 0.91 (multivariate LR chi-square p-value = 0.002). Non-statistically significant univariate and multivariate odds ratios close to 1.0 were found for maternal prenatal consumption of log quercetin, log myricetin, and log kaempferol and risk of CBC.; Conclusions. These data support the conclusion that maternal prenatal consumption of phenolic acids reduces the risk of CBC, possibly due to its antioxidant properties. However, the findings may be biased due to the absence of data on major sources of foods containing bioflavonoids and phenolic acids (such as onions, nuts, and berries) from the survey questionnaire, lack of an established phenolic acid food composition database, and problems associated with case-control studies such as recall bias.
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