Approximately 200 studies that examined the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and cancers of the lung, colon, breast, cervix, esophagus, oral cavity, stomach, bladder, pancreas, and ovary are reviewed. A statistically significant protective effect of fruit and vegetable consumption was found in 128 of 156 dietary studies in which results were expressed in terms of relative risk. For most cancer sites, persons with low fruit and vegetable intake (at least the lower one-fourth of the population) experience about twice the risk of cancer compared with those with high intake, even after control for potentially confounding factors. For lung cancer, significant protection was found in 24 of 25 studies after control for smoking in most instances. Fruits, in particular, were significantly protective in cancers of the esophagus, oral cavity, and larynx, for which 28 of 29 studies were significant. Strong evidence of a protective effect of fruit and vegetable consumption was seen in cancers of the pancreas and stomach (26 of 30 studies), as well as in colorectal and bladder cancers (23 of 38 studies). For cancers of the cervix, ovary, and endometrium, a significant protective effect was shown in 11 of 13 studies, and for breast cancer a protective effect was found to be strong and consistent in a meta analysis. It would appear that major public health benefits could be achieved by substantially increasing consumption of these foods.

Fruit, vegetables, and cancer prevention: A review of the epidemiological evidence

▪Purpose:To critically review the risks and benefits of hormone therapy for asymptomatic postmenopausal women who are considering long-term hormone therapy to prevent disease or to prolong...

Hormone Therapy To Prevent Disease and Prolong Life in Postmenopausal Women

A self-administered diet history questionnaire has been developed for epidemiologic and clinical use. Both the food list and the nutrient values to be associated with it were developed using dietary data from 11,658 adult respondents to the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II). Food items were selected on the basis of their contribution to total population intake of energy and each of 17 nutrients in the NHANES II data, and represent over 90% of each of those nutrients. Associated nutrient composition values were determined from the NHANES II database using frequency of consumption data in that survey. Portion sizes to be associated with each food item were derived from observed portion size distributions in NHANES II, based on three-dimensional models. The resulting food list and its corresponding brief data base, when used to calculate nutrients from a diet record, yielded correlations of r greater than 0.70 with the more detailed method. Field administration produced mean values comparable to national data.

A data-based approach to diet questionnaire design and testing

It has been estimated by various authorities that about one-third of cancers in Western high-income societies are attributable to factors relating to food, nutrition and physical activity. Identifying with confidence specific associations between dietary patterns, foods, body composition or individual nutrients is not simple because of the long latent period for cancer development, its complex pathogenesis and the challenge of characterising the multidimensional aspects of diet and activity over a lifetime. Reliable conclusions must therefore be drawn not only from randomised controlled trials but from a variety of methodological approaches, judged within a classic framework for inferring causality. Using a newly-developed method with a protocol for standardising the literature search and for analysis and display of the evidence, nine independent academic centres have conducted systematic reviews addressing the causal associations between food, nutrition and physical activity and risk of development of seventeen cancers, as well as of weight gain and obesity. A review has also examined the efficacy of such interventions in subjects with cancer. The reviews have been assessed by an independent Panel of twenty-one international experts who drew conclusions with grades of confidence in the causality of associations and made recommendations. Recommendations are given as public health goals as well as for individuals.

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The second World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research expert report. Food, nutrition, physical activity, and the prevention of cancer: a global perspective.

Nutrient reference values for Australia and New Zealand: Including recommended dietary intakes

A case-control study has been conducted in four areas in Canada in which 400 cases of breast cancer matched by age and marital status with neighborhood controls were administered a medical and dietary history questionnaire, a 24-hour recall for dietary information and a four-day diet record. The Study has produced evidence of an association between an increased intake of nutrients, especially total fat, in both pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women with breast cancer. Reasons why a weak association might have been anticipated are discussed, and it is concluded that in reality the association is stronger. Furthermore, its consistency with other evidence, both experimental and international, suggests that it is causal.

A study of diet and breast cancer.

A case-control study has been conducted in four areas of Canada in which 400 cases of breast cancer matched by age and marital status with neighborhood controls were administered medical and dietary questionnaires. The study is suggestive of an increased risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women with younger age at menarche and an increased risk with delay of age at natural menopause. No protective effect of early age at first pregnancy was demonstrated in either pre- or post-menopausal women. An increased frequency of pregnancies of four months duration or less was found in cases compared to controls and a greater frequency in pre-menopausal cases compared to controls of a history of irregular menstrual periods. In pre-menopausal women no association has been found between increased height and weight as risk factors for breast cancer. For post-menopausal women, however, a weak association with increased height has been found, while a strong association with increased weight both at the time of menopause and the 12 months preceding diagnosis has ben confirmed.

An epidemiologic study of breast cancer

Three methods of estimating group and individual dietary consumption have been developed and assessed in a case-control study of diet and breast cancer. The methods comprised a 24-hour recall, a detailed quantitative diet history directed to the most recent two-month period and the two-month period six months before, and a four-day diet diary. There is a high degree of correlation between the estimates of food consumption for the controls using each of the methods. The highest estimate was obtained from the diet history, with a slightly higher estimate in the period six months before than the current period, while the lowest is found in the 24-hour recall. The latter corresponds with the same method in a Nutrition Canada Survey. It is concluded that all methods ara applicable to case-control studies, but the diet history is preferred when current food intake may be influenced by a disease.

A comparison of dietary methods in epidemiologic studies.

Age-sex specific reference values and frequency distribution of erythrocyte parameters were derived from a representative sample of a natural population consisting of 1094 men and 1284 women between 10 and 96 years of age. Some differences have been found between previously reported reference values and those presented here, the importance of which lies not so much in their magnitude as in the fact that the latter are based upon a probability sample of a natural population unselected as to disease and are presented as percentile distributions by age and sex rather than as the more frequently used normal distribution. These results are intended for use as reference data both for clinical and for population estimates of haematological parameters.

Haematologic Profile of Natural Populations: Red Cell Parameters

A natural population has been studied for its serum urate levels and for host factors associated with these levels. Householdhood, ethnicity, drug and alcohol use were found to be negligible behavioral attributes with respect to population serum urate concentrations. Of interest among significant correlates of serum urate are smoking behavior, serum protein, creatinine, calcium and monocyte count. Predominant statistically significant host factors, however, are sex, body weight and age, body weight being linearly related in both sexes and age in females only.

Anthea Kelly

Papers

A study of diet and breast cancer.

An epidemiologic study of breast cancer

A comparison of dietary methods in epidemiologic studies.

Haematologic Profile of Natural Populations: Red Cell Parameters

Population serum urate levels and their correlates the sherbrooke regional study