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Legumes and Cancer Prevention Abstracts

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AUTHOR: Benito E; Stiggelbout A; Bosch FX; Obrador A; Kaldor J; Mulet M; Munoz N
ADDRESS: Unitat d'Epidemiologia i Registre de Cancer de Mallorca, Spain.
TITLE: Nutritional factors in colorectal cancer risk: a case- control study in Majorca.
SOURCE: Int J Cancer (GQU), 1991 Sep 9; 49 (2): 161-7
LANGUAGE: English
COUNTRY PUB.: UNITED STATES
ABSTRACT:
The relationship between energy intake, selected nutrients and colorectal cancer was investigated in the population of Majorca, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean basin. A population-based case-control study using food frequency questionnaires was conducted during the period 1984-1988 and included 286 cases of colorectal cancer, 295 population controls and 203 hospital controls. Food composition tables and ad-hoc estimates of portion sizes were used to derive intake estimates of 29 nutrients and of total calories. Relative risks were calculated for quartiles of consumption of each specific nutrient after adjustment for total calorie intake. Colorectal cancer was found associated with dietary intake of total calories (RRs = 1.0, 1.6, 1.6, 2.6) and cholesterol (RRs = 1.0, 0.9, 1.7, 1.7) and a protective effect was associated with the intake of fibre from legumes (pulses) and folic acid. The associations and the trends were statistically significant. Among the main energy- supplying nutrients, after adjustment for calories from other sources, increased risks were found for protein (RRs = 1.0, 1.1, 1.7, 2.5), notably animal protein, and carbohydrates (RRs = 1.0, 1.5, 1.4, 2.2), whereas no effects were found for increased consumption of lipids or saturated fats.



AUTHOR: Hughes JS; Ganthavorn C; Wilson-Sanders S
ADDRESS: Food and Nutrition Science Program, Health, Physical Education, Exercise Science and Nutrition, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5095, USA.
TITLE: Dry beans inhibit azoxymethane-induced colon carcinogenesis in F344 rats.
SOURCE: J Nutr (JEV), 1997 Dec; 127 (12): 2328-33
LANGUAGE: English
COUNTRY PUB.: UNITED STATES
ABSTRACT:
Epidemiological studies show a low incidence of colon cancer in many Latin American countries where the consumption of dry beans (e.g., pinto) is high. The purpose of this study was to use rats as an animal model to obtain experimental data on the inhibition of colon carcinogenesis by dry beans. Fifty-three 5-wk-old weanling male F344 rats were randomly assigned by weight to the following groups: control (11 rats), casein diet (21 rats), and bean diet (21 rats). Animals fed the casein and bean diets were treated with the carcinogen azoxymethane (AOM) once weekly for 2 wk. Rats in the control group also consumed the casein diet but were not exposed to AOM. All diets were isocaloric. The protein concentration of the diets was adjusted to 18 g/100 g with casein, and the fat concentration was adjusted to 5 g/100 g with corn oil. Rats fed the bean diet had significantly fewer colon adenocarcinomas (P < 0.05) than rats fed the casein diet (5 vs. 22 tumors), and significantly fewer rats fed the bean diet (P < 0.05) had colonic tumors than did casein-fed rats (24 vs. 50%). Tumor multiplicity was also significantly lower for the bean-fed rats, and significantly fewer (P < 0.05) tumors per tumor-bearing rat were observed in bean-fed rats than in casein-fed rats (1.0 +/- 0.0 vs. 2.5 +/- 0.6). This study demonstrates that dry beans contain anticarcinogenic compounds capable of inhibiting AOM-induced colon cancer in rats. However, the specific anticarcinogenic components within dry beans have not been identified, and it is unclear whether dietary fiber, phytochemicals or other components within dry beans are primarily responsible for the anticarcinogenic properties of beans.



AUTHOR: Le Marchand L; Hankin JH; Wilkens LR; Kolonel LN; Englyst HN; Lyu LC
ADDRESS: Etiology Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Research Center, Honolulu, USA.
TITLE: Dietary fiber and colorectal cancer risk.
SOURCE: Epidemiology (A2T), 1997 Nov; 8 (6): 658-65
LANGUAGE: English
COUNTRY PUB.: UNITED STATES
ABSTRACT:
We conducted a population-based case-control study among different ethnic groups in Hawaii to evaluate the role of various types and components of fiber, as well as micronutrients and foods of plant origin, on the risk of colorectal cancer. We administered personal interviews to 698 male and 494 female Japanese, Caucasian, Filipino, Hawaiian, and Chinese cases diagnosed during 1987-1991 with adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum and to 1,192 population controls matched to cases by age, sex, and ethnicity. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios, adjusted for caloric intake and other covariates. We found a strong, dose-dependent, inverse association in both sexes with fiber intake measured as crude fiber, dietary fiber, or nonstarch polysaccharides. We found inverse associations of similar magnitude for the soluble and insoluble fiber fractions and for cellulose and noncellulosic polysaccharides. This protective effect of fiber was limited to fiber from vegetable sources, with an odds ratio of 0.6 (95% confidence interval = 0.4-0.9) and 0.5 (95% confidence interval = 0.3-0.7) for the highest compared with the lowest quartile of intake for men and women, respectively. We found associations of the same magnitude for soluble and insoluble vegetable fiber, but no clear association with fiber from fruits or cereals. This pattern was consistent between sexes, across segments of the large bowel (right colon, left colon, and rectum), and among most ethnic groups. The effect of vegetable fiber may be independent of the effects of other phytochemicals, since the effect estimates remained unchanged after further adjustment for other nutrients. Intakes of carotenoids, light green vegetables, yellow-orange vegetables, broccoli, corn, carrots, bananas, garlic, and legumes (including soy products) were inversely associated with risk, even after adjustment for vegetable fiber. The data support a protective role of fiber from vegetables against colorectal cancer, which appears independent of its water solubility property and of the effects of other phytochemicals. The data also indicate that certain vegetables and fruits may be protective against this disease through mechanisms other than their fiber content.



AUTHOR: De Stefani E; Deneo-Pellegrini H; Mendilaharsu M; Ronco A
ADDRESS: Registro Nacional de Cancer, Montevideo, Uruguay.
TITLE: Diet and risk of cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract--I. Foods.
SOURCE: Oral Oncol (CU5), 1999 Jan; 35 (1): 17-21
LANGUAGE: English
COUNTRY PUB.: ENGLAND
ABSTRACT:
In order to examine the risks of cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract associated with food groups, a case- control study was conducted in Uruguay in the period January 1996-December 1997. All patients afflicted with cancer of the oral cavity, pharynx larynx, and esophagus, were included in the study. Cases were frequency matched with hospitalized patients on age, sex, residence, and urban/rural status. A strong association with red meat intake was observed (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.2-4.8), whereas vegetables fruits and legumes were associated with an inverse association (OR for fruits 0.3, 95% CI 0.2-0.6). Salted meat, a possible source of nitrosamines, was associated with an increased risk of 60% for esophageal cancer. Possible mechanisms for these findings are discussed.



AUTHOR: Bueno de Mesquita HB; Maisonneuve P; Runia S; Moerman CJ
ADDRESS: Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
TITLE: Intake of foods and nutrients and cancer of the exocrine pancreas: a population-based case-control study in The Netherlands.
LANGUAGE: English
COUNTRY PUB.: UNITED STATES
ABSTRACT:
During 1984-88 a population-based case-control study was carried out in the Netherlands in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer in order to investigate the role of diet in exocrine pancreatic carcinoma. A semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire was used to comprehensively assess usual diet about 1 year prior to diagnosis of 164 cases or interview of 480 controls. More than half of the cases were directly interviewed. After controlling for age, gender, response status, life-time cigarette consumption and dietary intake of total energy, monotonic, significantly inverse dose- response effects with estimates of daily consumption of vegetables were found. The significant inverse effect of total cooked vegetables was primarily concentrated in cruciferous vegetables. Consumption of fresh vegetables was also significantly and inversely related to risk. A monotonic, positive dose-response gradient was seen for the consumption of eggs, while consumption of fish was significantly related to risk as well. Among direct respondents, significantly inverse relationships were found for the consumption of legumes, tomatoes, cheese and fermented milk products. Inverse associations with consumption of (subgroups of) fruits were observed in women only. The monotonic, significantly inverse relationship for consumption of low-fibre vegetables and the somewhat weaker, inverse association for high-fibre vegetables in directly interviewed subjects only, may point to protective agents other than vegetable fibre. Although intake of dietary fibre and beta-carotene were both inversely related to risk, simultaneous estimation suggested that beta-carotene or other as yet unknown correlated constituents, rather than dietary fibre, might explain the inverse relationships. A significant protective effect of vitamin C was demonstrated in women but not in men. Our study suggests that, independent of smoking and dietary intake of total energy, low consumption of specific vegetables and possibly fermented milk products and high consumption of eggs and fish may have influenced the development of exocrine pancreatic cancer.





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