Dietary and other environmental risk factors in acute leukaemias: a case-control study of 119 patients

Selected dietary risk factors and other environmental factors were studied in 119 adult patients (60 males and 59 females of the Cracow region) with acute leukaemia (91 acute myeloid leukaemia and 28 acute lymphoblastic leukaemia), by a case-control study method and logistic regression modelling of the risk of leukaemia. It was shown that the diet of patients with acute leukaemias before the onset of the disease differed qualitatively and quantitatively from that of healthy subjects of control groups. The risk of acute leukaemia was elevated in the subjects characterized by rare consumption of raw vegetables, frequent drinking of milk, frequent consumption of poultry, and drinking of soft water. Other environmental conditions connected with the dietary risk were: frequent viral infections, vaccination with the vaccinia virus, frequent use of aminophenazone, presence of fungi in the house, drinking of milk supplied from own's own cows, and frequent deaths of reared poultry.