Dietary fats and cancer
Article Abstract:
Studies performed in the 1940s and 1950s suggested that dietary fat intake might be related to some types of cancer. These studies showed that high-fat diets were associated with an increased incidence of breast and colon cancer in laboratory mice and rats. These results prompted investigation into the effects of dietary fat on cancer incidence in humans. Epidemiological data concerning the incidence of cancer, obtained from several different countries, suggested that dietary fat was related to the incidence of and mortality from breast cancer. However, long-term studies of the effects of high-fat diets on cancer in humans are difficult to perform, and most of the studies that have been performed have not been able to show a relationship between dietary fat and cancer. In laboratory animals, experiments have shown that polyunsaturated vegetable oils promote cancer more effectively than polyunsaturated fats from fish oils or saturated fats. The results of epidemiological studies performed in humans were not able to link a specific type of dietary fat with cancer, but do indicate that total dietary fat is related to cancer incidence and mortality. Based on the laboratory data from studies in rats and mice, and based on the observed relationship between the fat content of diets consumed in specific countries and cancer incidence and mortality in these countries, the US Surgeon General and the Committee on Diet and Health of the National Research Council have concluded that some types of cancer probably are influenced by dietary fat. Overall, the available evidence seems to indicate that a low-fat diet can reduce the risk of some types of cancer. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0002-9165
Year: 1991
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Beta-carotene and cancer prevention: the Basel study
Article Abstract:
In Basel, Switzerland, a study was performed to examine the relationship between blood levels of carotene (a precursor of vitamin A found in dark green and yellow fruits and vegetables) and risk of cancer. Blood levels of carotene reflect the amount of this nutrient consumed in the diet. In 1959, plasma samples were taken from 2,974 men and tested for levels of carotene and also the antioxidant vitamins (vitamins A, E and C). During the next 12 years (until 1971-1973), 553 men died; 204 of them died of cancer (68 of lung cancer, 20 of stomach cancer, 17 of colon cancer, and 99 of all other malignancies). Plasma levels of carotene were significantly lower in those who died from bronchus (lung) cancer, stomach cancer, and all cancers taken together than in the 2,421 survivors. Those men with low carotene levels had a significantly increased relative risk for lung cancer. Individuals with low plasma levels of both carotene and retinol (vitamin A) had an increased risk for developing cancer in general (all types combined) compared with subjects who had normal blood levels of these nutrients. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0002-9165
Year: 1991
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Dietary fat and risk of breast cancer. Vitamin E and cancer prevention. Is low selenium status a risk factor for lung cancer?
- Abstracts: Relation of meat, fat, and fiber intake to the risk of colon cancer in a prospective study among women. Multivitamin use, folate, and colon cancer in women in the Nurses' Health Study
- Abstracts: Relapse from safer sex: the next challenge for AIDS prevention efforts. Decisions to get HIV tested and to accept antiretroviral therapies among gay/bisexual men: implications for secondary prevention efforts
- Abstracts: Human oocyte and preembryo donation: an evolving method for the treatment of infertility
- Abstracts: Grand Cru versus generic: different approaches to altering the ratio of general internists to subspecialists. Subspecialists and internal medicine: a perspective