Nutritional knowledge, diet quality and breast or lung cancer risk: a case-control study of adults from Warmia and Mazury region in Poland

BACKGROUND

Knowledge on proper nutrition favours the creation of pro-healthy nutritional behaviours of people. Studies related to the nutritional knowledge of adults, diet quality and incidence of breast or lung cancers are limited.

OBJECTIVE

Analysis of the relationship between the level of nutritional knowledge, diet quality and risk of breast cancer in women or lung cancer in men from the Warmia and Mazury region in Poland.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study was carried out in 202 subjects aged 23-80 years, including 107 women (17 cases of breast cancer) and 95 men (54 cases of lung cancer) from the Warmia and Mazury region in Poland. Nutritional knowledge was evaluated with the Questionnaire of Eating Behaviours (QEB), including 25 statements. Based on the frequency of the consumption of 16 food items, two diet quality indices were created: the pro-Healthy-Diet-Index-8 (pHDI-8) and the non-Healthy-Diet-Index-8 (nHDI-8). The values of pHDI-8 and nHDI-8 were calculated on the basis of the sum of the daily frequency of consumption of the selected food items and expressed as times/day. The Odds Ratio (OR) of both breast cancer or lung cancer in relation to the level of nutritional knowledge was calculated based on a logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

The incidence of breast or lung cancer in the bottom, middle and upper tertile of nutritional knowledge was 57.6%, 32.6% and 15.8%, respectively. As nutritional knowledge grew in the subsequent tertiles, pHDI-8 was on the increase (2.63 vs. 3.78 vs. 4.22 times/day) and n-HDI-8 was on the decrease (1.32 vs. 1.21 vs. 0.94 times/day). In the upper tertile of nutritional knowledge, the Odds Ratio for the incidence of breast or lung cancers varied from 0.06 (95% CI: 0.02; 0.17; p<0.05, with adjustment for cancer type and age) to 0.17 (95% CI: 0.04; 0.69; p<0.05, with adjustment for age and sex) when compared to the bottom tertile (OR=1.00). In the middle tertile of nutritional knowledge, the Odds Ratio of both cancers varied from 0.27 (95% CI: 0.12; 0.62, p<0.05, with adjustment for cancer type and age) to 0.35 (95% CI: 0.18; 0.71, p<0.05, variables without adjustment) when compared to the bottom tertile.

CONCLUSIONS

A higher level of nutritional knowledge was associated with the higher quality of a pro-healthy diet and lower risk of breast cancer in women or lung cancer in men. In contrast, a lower level of nutritional knowledge was associated with a lower diet quality and a higher risk of both types of cancers.

Habitual eating of breakfast, consumption frequency of selected food and overweight prevalence in adolescents from various age groups

AIM

To assess the influence of eating breakfast on the consumption of selected food and overweight prevalence among adolescents from different age groups.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study group consisted of students aged 13-18.9 (n=1700). Their height and weight measurements were used to calculate their body mass index and interpreted according to international standards for adolescents. Food consumption was assessed via the frequency method and involved the consumption of breakfast, dietary "bre and sweetened beverages. We used Block's validated questionnaire to assess the intake of dietary "bre and its sources. Analysis of the results was carried out in three age groups: 13-14.9, 15-16.9 and 17-18.9 years old. We used one-factor logistic regression adjusted by gender.

RESULTS

The percentage of adolescents with a regular habit of eating breakfast dropped by 5.7 percentage points when compared to adolescents aged 13-14.9 and 17-18.9 (from 54.2% to 48.5%), which was a phenomenon accompanied by an increase in the percentage of adolescents who ate breakfast irregularly or hardly ever (by 3.7 and 1.9 percentage points, respectively). Eating breakfast infrequently was related to a more frequent consumption of sweetened beverages (the odds ratio: from 2.32 to 2.67 depending on the age group) and a higher prevalence of a "bre-poor diet (from 1.49 to 2.23). Among adolescents aged 13-14.9 who hardly ever ate breakfast, the chance of being overweight increased by 83% in comparison to adolescents with regular habits of eating breakfast.

CONCLUSIONS

The frequency of eating breakfast decreased with the adolescents' age, especially among girls. Eating breakfast infrequently was associated with unhealthy nutrition, typical examples of which are lower intake of dietary "bre and more frequent consumption of sweetened beverages, and in the youngest group of adolescents caused a higher prevalence of overweight.

[Biochemical parameters of blood and nutrition model of the elderly]

The aim of the study was the analysis of the blood biochemical indices values depending on the nutrition model. The research was carried out in 1999 year among at random chosen 188 people 75-80 years old residing the neighbourhood of Olsztyn. The nutrients intake was assessed by means of the 24-hour recall method and, after having included loses, was compared with the recommended intake on the safe level. The blood biochemical indices were defined in the Central Analytical Laboratory of the City Hospital in Olsztyn according to the standard procedure. The analysis was assessed by Statistica v.6.0 program with the application of the factor and cluster analysis. Three nutrition models were separated: "low nutritive", "dairy" and "meat-vegetable-fruit". The comparison and distribution of the mean blood biochemical value was carried out using the variance analysis and the chi 2 test at p < or = 0.05. No differentiation in the levels of most blood biochemical indices depended on women and men nutrition model has been confirmed. Among 1-16% of women and 12-28% of men too low haematocrit and haemoglobin values were stated, among 34% of women and 23% of men--too low albumin values, and among 24% of women and 11% of men too high glucose values in the blood were found. About 32% of women and 35% of men showed too low HDL cholesterol ratio to total cholesterol content. Too low value of the vitamin B12 in the blood was revealed for 6% of women and 5% of men, and folic acid among 26% and 37%, for women and men, respectively. Regardless of realized nutrition model the significant percentage of elderly people has been characterized with the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes or anaemia.