The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) is an ongoing multi-centre prospective cohort study designed to investigate the relationship between nutrition and cancer, with the potential for studying other diseases as well. The study currently includes 519 978 participants (366 521 women and 153 457 men, mostly aged 35-70 years) in 23 centres located in 10 European countries, to be followed for cancer incidence and cause-specific mortality for several decades. At enrollment, which took place between 1992 and 2000 at each of the different centres, information was collected through a non-dietary questionnaire on lifestyle variables and through a dietary questionnaire addressing usual diet. Anthropometric measurements were performed and blood samples taken, from which plasma, serum, red cells and buffy coat fractions were separated and aliquoted for long-term storage, mostly in liquid nitrogen. To calibrate dietary measurements, a standardised, computer-assisted 24-hour dietary recall was implemented at each centre on stratified random samples of the participants, for a total of 36 900 subjects. EPIC represents the largest single resource available today world-wide for prospective investigations on the aetiology of cancers (and other diseases) that can integrate questionnaire data on lifestyle and diet, biomarkers of diet and of endogenous metabolism (e.g. hormones and growth factors) and genetic polymorphisms. First results of case-control studies nested within the cohort are expected early in 2003. The present paper provides a description of the EPIC study, with the aim of simplifying reference to it in future papers reporting substantive or methodological studies carried out in the EPIC cohort.

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European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition (EPIC): study populations and data collection

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/landia/PIIS2213-8587(14)70146-9.pdf

Differences in the prospective association between individual plasma phospholipid saturated fatty acids and incident type 2 diabetes: the EPIC-InterAct case-cohort study.

Diet and cancer prevention: Contributions from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study

Vitamin D and cancer.

Objective: This paper describes the ad hoc methodological concepts and procedures developed to improve the comparability of Nutrient databases (NDBs) across the 10 European countries participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). This was required because there is currently no European reference NDB available. Design: A large network involving national compilers, nutritionists and experts on food chemistry and computer science was set up for the 'EPIC Nutrient DataBase' (ENDB) project. A total of 550-1500 foods derived from about 37 000 standardized EPIC 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDRS) were matched as closely as possible to foods available in the 10 national NDBs. The resulting national data sets (NDS) were then successively documented, standardized and evaluated according to common guidelines and using a DataBase Management System specifically designed for this project. The nutrient values of foods unavailable or not readily available in NDSs were approximated by recipe calculation, weighted averaging or adjustment for weight changes and vitamin-mineral losses, using common algorithms. Results: The final ENDB contains about 550-1500 foods depending on the country and 26 common components. Each component value was documented and standardized for unit, mode of expression, definition and chemical method of analysis, as far as possible. Furthermore, the overall completeness of NDSs was improved (≥99%), particularly for β-carotene and vitamin E. Conclusion: The ENDB constitutes a first real attempt to improve the comparability of NDBs across European countries. This methodological work will provide a useful tool for nutritional research as well as end-user recommendations to improve NDBs in the future. Chemicals / CAS: alcohol, 64-17-5; alpha tocopherol, 1406-18-4, 1406-70-8, 52225-20-4, 58-95-7, 59-02-9; ascorbic acid, 134-03-2, 15421-15-5, 50-81-7; beta carotene, 7235-40-7; calcium, 7440-70-2; cholesterol, 57-88-5; cyanocobalamin, 53570-76-6, 68-19-9, 8064-09-3; iron, 14093-02-8, 53858-86-9, 7439-89-6; magnesium, 7439-95-4; phosphorus, 7723-14-0; potassium, 7440-09-7; protein, 67254-75-5; pyridoxine, 12001-77-3, 58-56-0, 65-23-6, 8059-24-3; retinol, 68-26-8, 82445-97-4; riboflavin, 83-88-5; starch, 9005-25-8, 9005-84-9; thiamine, 59-43-8, 67-03-8; water, 7732-18-5

The EPIC nutrient database project (ENDB) : a first attempt to standardize nutrient databases across the 10 European countries participating in the EPIC study.

https://pubag.nal.usda.gov/download/20972/pdf

S. Church

Papers

The EPIC nutrient database project (ENDB) : a first attempt to standardize nutrient databases across the 10 European countries participating in the EPIC study.

The European Nutrient Database (ENDB) for nutritional epidemiology