Overview of available data on diet and cancer mortality in France

We are reasonably sure today that diet plays an important role in the etiology of many common types of cancer, although the mechanisms and the relevant components of the diet have not yet been clearly identified. Data on the temporal and geographical variations of diet, and of cancer mortality, are presented here for France. There were important modifications in the dietary habits of the French population between 1950 and 1985. The consumption of bread and potatoes went down by a factor 2, and alcohol consumption decreased by 20%. Simultaneously, increases varying between 50% and 100% were observed for butter, fish, fruits and vegetables; the consumptions of pork meat, oil, and margarine were more than doubled; and lastly the consumption of poultry went up by a factor 3.5, and cheese or yogurt by a factor 4.5. The variations between regions for France are also very large. The largest increases in cancer mortality between 1950 and 1985 were observed for mouth and pharynx, both in males and females, and for lung cancer in males. The largest geographical variations were observed for mouth and pharynx, for esophagus, and for stomach. For these sites, the highest rates were observed in Brittany. In our present state of knowledge on the relation between diet and the risk of cancer, we cannot reliably attribute the variations in cancer mortality to specific dietary habits.