Diet, obesity, and risk of fatal prostate cancer

Medical, life-style, and occupational risk factors for prostate cancer

Information on suspected risk factors for prostate cancer was obtained from in-person interviews as part of a case-control study of tissue sex hormone receptors and serum hormone levels. The risk factors examined were medical history (including venereal disease), sexual history, smoking, alcohol consumption, and occupational exposures. Study subjects were 40 prostate cancer patients and 64 benign prostatic hyperplasia controls who were newly diagnosed during 1984-1985 at North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill. Subjects were white and black men aged 50 years and older. Comparisons of cases' and controls' past medical histories did not support a venereal disease hypothesis of prostate cancer etiology. The most prominent finding is an association with farming employment: 75% of cases compared to 38% of controls reported farmwork occupations. Exposures to pesticides and herbicides, while more common among the patients, did not account for the association detected for farming. No relationship was observed with cadmium exposure, the most frequently cited occupational risk factor for prostate cancer.

Overweight and mortality

Mortality ratios by relative weight categories compared to average weights were computed for 750,000 men and women. Data came from the American Cancer Society's prospective study, conducted in 1960-1972. Males who were 40% or more overweight had a mortality ratio of 1.87 for all causes of death. The ratio in women was 1.89. High mortality ratios were also observed in overweight men and women who died of coronary heart disease, diabetes and digestive diseases. The mortality ratio for cancer in obese men was 1.33; 1.55 for obese women. Sites with high mortality ratios in obese males were colon-rectum and prostate; in women, endometrium (about 5 times as high as for average weights); cervix (2 times as high), gall bladder (3.5 times), ovary (mortality ratio of 1.6) and breast cancer (mortality ratio of 1.5).

Nutrition, social factors and prostatic cancer in a Northern Italian population

The relationship between prostate cancer and indicators of nutrition, diet and social factors was evaluated in a case-control study of 166 patients with histologically confirmed prostatic carcinoma and 202 control subjects hospitalized for acute diseases other than malignant, hormonal or urogenital. The relative risk increased with increasing body mass index, men being moderately overweight showing a 2.3 elevated risk, and those grossly overweight an over four-fold higher risk of prostate cancer, when allowance was made for several identified potential confounding factors. Cases also reported more frequent consumption of milk and other dairy products and meat, but no significant difference was noted for vegetable intake. The risk of prostate cancer was unrelated to marital status or indicators of social class based on occupation.

Studies of nutrients and their relationship to cancer in the multiethnic population of Hawaii

Because of the many ethnic cultures in Hawaii, there is great dietary variation in the population, even within individual ethnic groups. Epidemiologic studies in this setting are providing useful information on the role of macro- and micronutrients in the risk for certain cancers. The results of several recent and ongoing case-control studies are described, especially with regard to the influence of dietary fat, vitamin A, and vitamin C. The degree of consistency of the findings with other reports in the literature is discussed.

Fat intake and cancer of the gastrointestinal tract and prostate

The epidemiological evidence for and against the postulated role of dietary fat in the aetiology of human gastrointestinal and prostate cancers is critically reviewed. Evidence for a causal association is inconsistent, and much is of low validity. Several studies of colorectal cancer provide evidence to refute the fat hypothesis, at least in some populations. The expanding interest in precursor adenomas and the possible role of fat in their aetiology has led to case-control studies of colorectal adenomas and clinical preventive trials to see if fat is related to risk, but virtually no results have yet been published. The few studies done in relation to prostate cancer justify further investigation of the role of fat, but there appear to be no putative mechanisms to explain an association.

Regional nutritional pattern and cancer mortality in the Federal Republic of Germany

Regional age-adjusted mortality rates of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1976 to 1980 were correlated with regional nutritional data from a national survey on income and consumption. This survey was conducted in 1973 and covered a sample of 50,000 households. The mortality rates due to carcinomas of the stomach, colon, rectum, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, breast, and prostate and the consumption data of 15 nutrients and other compounds are shown for the 11 Federal States. For alcohol, vitamin C and calcium variations range about 20%, whereas deviations in the consumption of protein, fat, and most carbohydrates appear of minor importance. Some of the 45 correlation coefficients significant at the 5% level (out of 210) may have etiologic importance. The associations that coincide in both sexes are alcohol and disaccharide consumption with stomach cancer and protein intake with pancreatic cancer. Because previous habits and consumption may have a stronger etiologic influence than do present ones in the induction of chronic diseases, the utilization of existing information from the 1930s (e.g., Atlas of Ethnic Studies) and the assessment of habits in previous decades by means of case-control studies are emphasized.