Zhu, BeibeiSun, YuQi, LuZhong, RongMiao, Xiaoping2015-04-012015Zhu, Beibei, Yu Sun, Lu Qi, Rong Zhong, and Xiaoping Miao. 2015. “Dietary legume consumption reduces risk of colorectal cancer: evidence from a meta-analysis of cohort studies.” Scientific Reports 5 (1): 8797. doi:10.1038/srep08797. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep08797.2045-2322http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:14351077Previous epidemiological studies on the relation between dietary legume consumption and risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) remain controversial. We conducted a meta-analysis based on prospective cohort studies to investigate the association between dietary legume consumption and risk of CRC. Fourteen cohort studies were finally included, containing a total of 1903459 participants and 12261 cases who contributed 11628960 person-years. We found that higher legume consumption was associated with a decreased risk of CRC (RR, relative risk = 0.91; 95% CI, confidence interval = 0.84–0.98). Subgroup analyses suggested that higher legume consumption was inversely associated with CRC risk in Asian (RR = 0.82; 95% CI = 0.74–0.91) and soybean intake was associated with a decreased risk of CRC (RR = 0.85; 95% CI = 0.73–0.99). Findings from our meta-analysis supported an association between higher intake of legume and a reduced risk of CRC. Further studies controlled for appropriate confounders are warranted to validate the associations.en-USJournal Article2015-04-0110.1038/srep08797