Related Experiment Videos
Diet and cancer. Any progress in the interim?
1Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, State University of New York, School of Medicine, Buffalo.
Cancer
|October 15, 1988
Summary
Five years after interim guidelines on diet and cancer prevention, research shows mixed results. While some links like dietary fat and colon cancer, and fruits/vegetables and lung cancer persist, others are less clear, with new hypotheses emerging.
Area of Science:
- Nutritional Epidemiology
- Cancer Prevention
- Public Health
Background:
- The National Research Council (NRC) released interim dietary guidelines for cancer prevention in 1982.
- These recommendations were considered temporary, awaiting further scientific evidence.
- Significant research in nutritional epidemiology has emerged over the subsequent five years.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review and synthesize findings on diet and cancer relationships published after the 1982 NRC report.
- To assess the consistency of evidence supporting previous hypotheses.
- To identify new hypotheses and areas requiring further investigation.
Main Methods:
- Review of nutritional epidemiology studies published between 1982 and 1987.
- Analysis of evidence supporting or refuting existing diet-cancer hypotheses.
- Identification of emerging hypotheses regarding diet and cancer risk.
Main Results:
- Inconsistent evidence regarding dietary fat's role in colon cancer.
- Some support for carotene/fruits/vegetables reducing lung cancer risk.
- Weakened support for dietary fat-breast cancer and fiber-colon cancer links.
- Emerging hypothesis on alcohol intake and breast cancer risk.
Conclusions:
- Progress in understanding diet-cancer links remains slow.
- The 1982 recommendations are still considered "interim" in 1988.
- Methodological assessment and meta-analysis are needed.
- Ongoing rigorous studies, including clinical trials, are crucial for definitive answers.