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Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Posts: 1406 Location: Cleveland, OH
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Posted: Dec Sat 16, 2006 6:53 pm Post subject: Cancer - Diet |
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Cancer - Diet
One Third of Cancers May Be Due To Diet, London (Reuters) -- A panel of British scientists and physicians have concluded in a new report that diet may play a role in the development of about one third of all cancers -- but also cautions that there is insufficient evidence to establish a causal link between diet and cancer, as exists between smoking and lung cancer. The experts, who comprise the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy (COMA), published their findings on Thursday in the government report, "The Nutritional Aspects of the Development of Cancer." "Clearly, smoking poses the most significant risk of cancer, but evidence suggests that diet could contribute to a third of all cancers," said Chief Medical Officer Sir Kenneth Calman in a statement accompanying the release of the report. "It is important that the report's recommendations are followed in the context of wider advise from COMA," added Calman. "Eat a healthy balanced and varied diet, one which is rich in cereals and contains at least five portions of fruits and vegetables a day." Calman said that adults who eat more than an average amount of red and processed meat -- such as those who eat 12 to 14 portions of meat per week, or 140 grams (about 5 ounces) per day -- should reduce that consumption. Adults who eat the average amount -- about 90 grams (about 3.2 ounces) or less per day needn't change their habits. The committee also recommended that consumers keep a healthy body weight and increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables, both in amount and in variety. They also advise against taking beta-carotene supplements as a means of protecting against cancer, and advise caution about taking high doses of mineral supplements and purified vitamins. These latter products "cannot be assumed to be risk free," the committee says. "In particular, the unexpected finding of an increased incidence of lung cancer in those taking beta-carotene supplements in two intervention trials in people at high risk raises the possibility that a change in the usual balance of carotenoids in the diet (for instance by high-dose purified supplements) might lead to potentially adverse perturbations in their absorption, metabolism or function," the researchers state. The study, which has been in preparation for five years, originally was set to be published in September, 1997. However, its release was deferred until Thursday by UK Health Secretary Frank Dobson to allow the committee more time to consider its recommendations. The study's conclusions are more conservative than those of a similar body of research published last September by the World Cancer Research Fund. This group advised consumers to shift to a more plant-based diet and said that meat, if eaten at all, should be limited to less than 80 grams (less than 3 ounces) per day. In a summary of its research, COMA said that consumers who increase their intake of vegetables could lower their risk of colorectal cancer. And those who increase their intake of fruits and vegetables could lower their risk of stomach cancer. But the report also says that there was weak evidence that a higher intake of fruits and vegetables would reduce the risk of breast cancer. The committee notes that these cancers together represent about 18% of cancers in men and about 39% in women in the UK. But the panel also concluded that there is not enough evidence to quantify an optimum consumption of fruits and vegetable, nor to recommend particular types. The committee did find that there is "moderate evidence" for an association between the consumption of red and processed meat and colorectal cancer. However, there is not enough evidence to show that reducing consumption of preserved meat as prepared in the UK would reduce the risk of gastric cancer. And evidence associating lower meat consumption and a reduced risk of breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer is weak, the committee concluded.
© 1996, Reuters Health Information Services
-Joseph Opauski |
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