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The ratio of deoxycholic acid to chenodeoxycholic acid in the serum of 62 men was inversely related to body mass index and to saturated fat intake after adjustment for body mass index, smoking, and age conversely, this ratio was associated positively with the intake of fibre from grains.British Journal of Cancer (2004) 90, 632-634. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6601608 www.bjcancer.com [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Smoking has been associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality in previous studies and might also be associated with prognosis after CRC diagnosis. However, current evidence on smoking in association with CRC prognosis is limited. Patients and methods: For this individual patient data meta-analysis, sociodemographic and smoking behavior information of 12 414 incident CRC patients (median age at diagnosis: 64.3 years), recruited within 14 prospective cohort studies among previously cancer-free adults, was collected at baseline and harmonized across studies. Vital status and causes of death were collected for a mean follow-up time of 5.1 years following cancer diagnosis. Associations of smoking behavior with overall and CRC-specific survival were evaluated using Cox regression and standard meta-analysis methodology. Results: A total of 5229 participants died, 3194 from CRC. Cox regression revealed significant associations between former [hazard ratio (HR)=1.12; 95 % confidence interval (CI)=1.04-1.20] and current smoking (HR=1.29; 95% CI=1.04-1.60) and poorer overall survival compared with never smoking. Compared with current smoking, smoking cessation was associated with improved overall (HR<10 years=0.78; 95% CI=0.69-0.88; HR≥10 years=0.78; 95% CI=0.63-0.97) and CRC-specific survival (HR≥10 years=0.76; 95% CI=0.67-0.85). Conclusion: In this large meta-analysis including primary data of incident CRC patients from 14 prospective cohort studies on the association between smoking and CRC prognosis, former and current smoking were associated with poorer CRC prognosis compared with never smoking. Smoking cessation was associated with improved survival when compared with current smokers. Future studies should further quantify the benefits of nonsmoking, both for cancer prevention and for improving survival among CRC patients, in particular also in terms of treatment response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background There are plausible mechanisms for how dietary docosahexaenoic acid ( DHA), an n−3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, could prevent Crohn's disease ( CD). Aim To conduct a prospective study to investigate the association between increased intake of DHA and risk of CD. Methods Overall, 229 702 participants were recruited from nine European centres between 1991 and 1998. At recruitment, dietary intakes of DHA and fatty acids were measured using validated food frequency questionnaires. The cohort was monitored through to June 2004 to identify participants who developed incident CD. In a nested case-control analysis, each case was matched with four controls; odds ratios ( ORs) were calculated for quintiles of DHA intake, adjusted for total energy intake, smoking, other dietary fatty acids, dietary vitamin D and body mass index. Results Seventy-three participants developed incident CD. All higher quintiles of DHA intake were inversely associated with development of CD; the highest quintile had the greatest effect size ( OR = 0.07; 95% CI = 0.02-0.81). The OR trend across quintiles of DHA was 0.54 (95% CI = 0.30-0.99, Ptrend = 0.04). Including BMI in the multivariate analysis, due to its correlation with dietary fat showed similar associations. There were no associations with the other dietary fatty acids studied. Conclusion There were inverse associations, with a biological gradient between increasing dietary docosahexaenoic acid intakes and incident Crohn's disease. Further studies in other populations should measure docosahexaenoic acid to determine if the association is consistent and the hypothesis tested in randomised controlled trials of purely docosahexaenoic acid supplementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]