Search

The association of body size, lifestyle, and medical conditions with renal cell cancer risk was examined among 161,126 Hawaii-Los Angeles Multiethnic Cohort participants (1993-2002). After 8.3 years of follow-up, 347 renal cell cancer cases (220 men, 127 women) were identified. Renal cell cancer risk increased with increasing body mass index in men (multivariate relative risk (RR) = 1.06 per unit of body mass index, p = 0.001) and women (RR = 1.07, p < 0.0001). The relative risks associated with being obese compared with being lean were 1.76 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.20, 2.58) for men and 2.27 (95% CI: 1.37, 3.74) for women. Hypertension was associated with renal cell cancer (RR(men) = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.87; RR(women) = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.09, 2.28). Smoking was confirmed to be a risk factor for both sexes. Among women, diuretic use was associated with increased risk (RR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.04, 2.57), whereas physical activity was associated with reduced risk (p(trend) = 0.027). Alcohol consumption was inversely associated with risk for men (p(trend) = 0.045). Compared with nondrinkers, men who drank >/=1 drinks/day had a 31% lower risk (95% CI: 0.49, 0.96). Results show that body mass index, smoking, and hypertension are risk factors for renal cell cancer in both sexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diet may be a modifier of smoking-related cancer risk, with protective effects of intake of fruits and vegetables and associated antioxidants found in many observational studies. We previously reported serum Beta-Cryptoxanthin levels being inversely associated with smoking-related lung cancer incidence in a cohort of Chinese men. We noted, however, that serum Beta-Cryptoxanthinn is negatively correlated with smoking. Since self-reports of smoking intensity undoubtedly contain errors, this negative correlation indicates a potential bias in assessing the effects of Beta-Cryptoxanthin, due to confounding with the unmeasured (residual) portion of cigarette exposure. We evaluated cotinine levels in pre-diagnostic spot urine samples to attempt to improve smoking assessment. We noted that urinary cotinine levels correlated significantly with cigarette consumption overall and that cotinine was strongly predictive of lung cancer risk. Urinary cotinine, however, was not as strong a predictor of lung cancer risk in current smokers as were self-reports of cigarette consumption and cotinine remained only a marginally significant predictor of lung cancer risk after adjustment for self-reports. An apparent benefit of Beta-Cryptoxanthin remained evident when including both urinary cotinine and self-reported cigarette consumption and cotinine in the statistical model. However, we conclude that cotinine measured from a single spot urine seems to have only limited value in augmenting self-reports of cigarette consumption so that, at present, the apparent protective effects of Beta-Cryptoxanthinn, as seen in our own study, should continue to be regarded as unproven. We believe that future epidemiological evaluation of the association between Beta-Cryptoxanthin (and other antioxidants) and reduced lung cancer risk must utilize improved biomarkers to augment smokers' own self-reports of smoking amount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report describes the development and validation/calibration of a structured food frequency questionnaire for use in a large-scale cohort study of diet and health in Chinese men and women aged 45-74 years in Singapore, the development of a food composition database for analysis of the dietary data, and the results of the dietary validation/calibration study. The present calibration study comparing estimated intakes from 24-hour recalls with those from the food frequency questionnaires revealed correlations of 0.24-0.79 for energy and nutrients among the Singapore Chinese, which are comparable to the correlation coefficients reported in calibration studies of other populations. We also report on the nutritional profiles of Singapore Chinese on the basis of results of 1,880 24-hour dietary recalls conducted on 1,022 (425 men and 597 women) cohort subjects. Comparisons with age-adjusted corresponding values for US whites and blacks show distinct differences in dietary intakes between the Singapore and US populations. The Singapore cohort will be followed prospectively to identify dietary associations with cancer risk and other health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is compelling evidence that estrogens influence breast cancer risk. Since the mid-1980s, dietary fat intervention studies have been conducted to investigate the effect of fat intake on endogenous estrogen levels. To further our understanding of the possible relationship between dietary fat and breast cancer, we conducted a meta-analysis of dietary fat intervention studies that investigated serum estradiol levels, and we reviewed the nature of the evidence provided by prospective analytic studies of fat consumption and breast cancer risk.Methods: A computerized search of the English language literature on estrogen/estradiol and dietary fat intervention studies published from January 1966 through June 1998 was conducted using the MEDLINE database. Pooled estimates were derived from the change in estradiol levels associated with fat reduction from 13 studies. Analyses were conducted separately for premenopausal and postmenopausal women and in both groups combined.Results and Conclusions: Statistically significant reductions in serum estradiol levels of -7.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] = -11.7% to -2.9%) among premenopausal women and -23.0% (95% CI = -27.7% to -18.1%) among postmenopausal women were observed, with an overall -13.4% (95% CI = -16.6% to -10.1%) reduction observed. The greatest reductions occurred in two studies in which dietary fat was reduced to 10%-12% of calories compared with 18%-25% of calories in the other studies. A statistically significant reduction in estradiol levels of -6.6% (95% CI = -10.3% to -2.7%) remained after exclusion of these two studies. Review of prospective analytic epidemiologic studies that allowed for dietary measurement error suggests that the possibility that reducing fat consumption below 20% of calories will reduce breast cancer risk cannot be excluded.Implications: Dietary fat reduction can result in a lowering of serum estradiol levels and such dietary modification may still offer an approach to breast cancer prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use has been associated with a decreased colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, the effects of NSAID on clinical outcomes after CRC diagnosis are not well defined. The authors investigated the association between prediagnosis NSAID use and mortality after CRC diagnosis among women in the California Teachers Study cohort.Methods: Women aged <85 years participating in the California Teachers Study, without a prior CRC diagnosis at baseline (1995-1996), and who were diagnosed with CRC during follow-up through December 2005, were eligible for analysis of the association between prediagnosis NSAID use and mortality. NSAID use (including aspirin and ibuprofen) was collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Cancer occurrence was identified through California Cancer Registry linkage. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate hazards ratios (HR) for death and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs).Results: Among 621 CRC patients who were identified, 64% reported no prediagnosis regular NSAID use, 17% reported use of 1 to 6 days/week, and 20% reported daily use. A duration of NSAID use <5 years was reported by 17% of patients and a use of >or=5 years was reported by 18%. Regular prediagnosis NSAID use (1-3 days/week, 4-6 days/week, and daily) versus none was associated with improved overall survival (OS) (HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.53-0.95) and CRC-specific survival (HR, 0.58; 95% CI 0.40-0.84) after adjustment for clinically relevant factors. Prediagnosis NSAID use >or=5 years (vs none) was found to be associated with improved OS (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.37-0.84) and CRC-specific survival (HR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.23-0.71) in adjusted analyses.Conclusions: When used regularly or over a prolonged duration before CRC diagnosis, NSAIDs are associated with decreased mortality among female CRC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High intakes of calcium and dairy products have been suggested to be related to prostate cancer risk. Such associations were examined in the Multiethnic Cohort Study (1993-2002) among 82,483 men who completed a detailed quantitative food frequency questionnaire. During a mean follow-up of 8 years, 4,404 total cases of prostate cancer were identified. In Cox proportional hazards models, no association was found between calcium and vitamin D intake and total, advanced, or high-grade prostate cancer risk, whether for total intake, intake from foods, or intake from supplements, among all male participants or among nonusers of supplemental calcium. No association of calcium or vitamin D intake was seen across racial/ethnic groups. In analyses of food groups, dairy product and total milk consumption were not associated with prostate cancer risk. However, low-/nonfat milk was related to an increased risk and whole milk to a decreased risk of total prostate cancer; after stratification, these effects were limited to localized or low-grade tumors. Although the findings from this study do not support an association between the intakes of calcium and vitamin D and prostate cancer risk, they do suggest that an association with milk consumption may vary by fat content, particularly for early forms of this cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of migrants, along with geographic and temporal variations in incidence, indicate that colorectal cancer is especially sensitive to changes in environmental factors, including, most importantly, diet. The goal of this research was to examine the changes in dietary practices that may be consistent with the changing incidence of colorectal cancer in the Los Angeles Mexican-American population. Cancer incidence and dietary intake data were available for over 35,000 Latinos of Mexican national origin currently participating in the prospective Multiethnic Cohort Study, representing the largest sample of Mexican-origin Latinos of any such study in the United States. The dataset is unique in that changes in cancer rates and in dietary behaviors across three generations could be examined. Most of the change in colorectal cancer rates occurred between the first and second generations, and, correspondingly, nearly all the dietary change also occurred between the first and second generations. Although some food traditions were retained by Mexican Americans, the dietary changes due to acculturation were significant and support an association between colorectal cancer risk and certain dietary components, notably, alcohol as a risk factor and nonstarch polysaccharides and vegetables as protective factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]