Select nutrients found to influence the persistence of HPV

Research suggests that increasing dietary consumption of lutein/zeaxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin, vitamin C, and papaya may help lower the risk of persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, a strong determinant of cervical cancer.

Investigators, writing in the Journal of Infectious Diseases November 15th, say this is the first study to look at the association between dietary intake of selected nutrients and foods and persistence of type-specific HPV.Dr. Anna R. Giuliano from the Arizona Cancer Center and College of Public Health in Tucson and colleagues used food-frequency questionnaires to assess the diets of 433 Brazilian women enrolled in The Ludwig-McGill HPV Natural History Study. They used polymerase chain reaction to assess HPV status at month 0, 4, 8, and 12. All of the women had tested positive for HPV at some point in time.Two hundred forty-eight had transient HPV infection, defined as 1 of 4 positive or nonconsecutively positive HPV tests, while 185 had persistent HPV infection, defined as 2 or more consecutive tests positive for the same HPV type.On average, women with transient HPV infection had higher mean daily intakes of beta-cryptoxanthin (177 vs 149 micrograms; p = 0.025) and lutein/zeaxanthin (296 vs 249 microgram; p = 0.03) than women with persistent HPV infection.Moreover, risk of type-specific, persistent HPV was lower among women in the top 2 quartiles of dietary beta-cryptoxanthin (adjusted OR, 0.48 for quartile 3 and 0.47 for quartile 4) compared with those in the lowest quartile.The risk of persistent HPV infection was similarly reduced in women in the upper 2 quartiles of lutein/zeaxanthin intake (adjusted OR, 0.44 for quartile 3 and 0.49 for quartile 4) compared with those in the lowest quartile.Increasing levels of vitamin C and consumption of carotenoid-rich papaya at least 1 time per week were also inversely associated with persistent HPV.These findings are consistent with a previous study by Dr. Giuliano and colleagues and support current evidence suggesting that carotenoids and vitamin C have chemopreventive properties.”These results suggest that, among populations with low levels of intake of antioxidant nutrients, increasing dietary consumption of certain fruits may confer protection against cervical neoplasia,” Dr. Giuliano’s team concludes.(Source: J Infect Dis 2003;188:1508-1516: Reuters Health: December 10, 2003: Oncolink)