A diet high
in red meat, fats and refined grains may increase the risk of colon cancer
in women, new research concludes.
In a 12-year
study of more than 76,000 nurses, those who ate a Western-type diet "have
a higher risk for colon cancer," the study's lead author, Teresa Fung of
Harvard University's school of public health, told United Press International.
A Western diet
is defined as one high in red meats, sweets, fats and refined grains, such
as white bread, rice and pasta.
The findings
also might hold true in males, Fung said. "I do not see any reason why
similar results would not be seen in men," she said.
Previous research
has examined the relationship between diet and colon cancer, but those
studies focused primarily on individual foods. This study was unique in
that it looked at the overall dietary pattern of the nurses, Fung noted.
"People should
look at their diet and see if they have a lot of components of the Western
pattern and then they should reduce the intake of those," Fung said.
Michael Thun,
who heads up epidemiological research for the American Cancer Society in
Atlanta, told UPI the study indicates public health recommendations should
revolve around dietary patterns rather than single foods.
"The overall
pattern day in and day out over years is what creates a substantial exposure
to the constituents that either reduce or increase your (cancer) risk depending
on what you're eating," Thun said.
Americans in
general eat the types of foods that were associated with an increased cancer
risk in the study, Thun said. "We tend to eat just about the opposite of
what the healthy thing is plus we eat too much of everything," he said.
In the study,
which appears in the Feb. 10 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine,
Fung's team examined data from the Nurses' Health Study, a study involving
over 121,000 nurses that has been ongoing since 1976. Using data on dietary
habits first collected in 1984, the researchers focused on 76,402 women,
ages 38 to 63, who did not have cancer when the first information was obtained.
Over the 12
year period from 1984 to 1996, 445 cases of colon cancer and 101 cases
of rectal cancer developed among the nurses. Women eating the highest amounts
of red meats, sweets, french fries and refined grains had 1.5 times the
risk of colon cancer of women who ate more fruits, vegetables, fish and
whole grains. Diet was not associated with risk of rectal cancer.
As to why the
Western-style of diet might increase colon cancer risk, Fung said it might
be a combination of factors. Processed meats and red meat cooked at high
temperatures contain chemicals that can increase cancer risk, while refined
grains increase the levels of a hormone called insulin, which some studies
have shown might play a role in increasing cancer risk, she said.
--
Copyright 2003 by United
Press International.
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