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Show Study Underway In Diet, Cancer Link . Eggs, cheese and ice cream,' favored in many Utahns' diets, may be partially responsible for an increased in-creased incidence in prostrate cancer in Utah males. A new study at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center is investigating a possible link between bet-ween diet, particularly diary products, and prostate cancer, a disease that has doubled in Utah in the last 10 years. The three-year study is one of four funded at the Utah institution by the National Cancer Institute. A $355,780 grant is funding the study with an additional $1.5 million grant to begin at five-year project that includes investigations of cancers of the cervix and pancreas as well as a study of hormones and diseases in male twins. All will examine the role of fat, fiber and 20 nutrients as either risks for, or preventions against cancer, says Dee West, Ph.D., associate professor of family and community medicine, and principal investigator. in-vestigator. Utah is one of five areas in the U.S. and Canada where major epidemiologic studies on the link between diet and cancer are being carried out, notes West. The unique Utah population is a major reason. "Cancer rates are significantly lower in Utah and particularly in the Mormon population. Diet may partially contribute to the differences," dif-ferences," he says. The Mormon religion discourages its members from smoking as well as drinking alochol, coffee and tw 'mat provides researchers with an ideal population for studies on the relationship between coffee and pancreatic cancer, for instance. A Harvard University study that associated coffee and pancreatic cancer several years ago may be criticized, "because it's hard to compare nondrinkers to drinkers when 90 percent of the adult population drinks coffee,", says West. Those who do not drink coffee often do so for heuiih reasons that also might affect their general diet, he notes. Additionally the specialized population may prove advantageous in the prostate cancer study. The incidence rate for patients with prostate cancer, the second most common cancer among U.S. males, is 22 percent higher in Utah than in other states, says West. Better diagnosis may account for some of this increase. A previous study at the Utah Health Sciences Center however, also found that the cancer may be linked to high consumption of dairy products, which figure prominently in the Mormon diet, explains West. This month, researchers will begin interviewing 380 cancer patients and 700 controls for the prostate study. The patients were located through th Utah Cancer Registry and pathology laboratories in four nearby counties, which comprise 80 percent of the state's population, says West. The controls, people who do not suffer from cancer, were selected by a random housenola census ana matched to the patients according to age and locale. Both patients and controls will be interviewed on their diets using a 60-page 60-page questionnaire. Specifically, they will be asked how much and how often they consume particular foods, ranging from French toast to raw carrots. Plastic models of food will help respondents determine portion sizes. The results will be sent to the Food Data Bank at Utah State University where nutrients such as fiber, protein, and carbohydrates will be determined for each food, explains West. The USU Food Data Bank is unique, he notes, as it's "localized and more complete" than most. In addition to the chemical analyses the USDA provides, the Utah data bank includes analyses of samples of home canning and local groceries. From these, researchers will be able to calculate how many grams of nutrients a respondent consumes per day. The totals of patients then will be compared to those of controls, con-trols, and results will be drawn, says West. Other factors including oc-cupatoin oc-cupatoin and sexual activity also will be considered. The same type of interview and analysis will be used in the study on pancreatic cancer. Researchers will question 10 cancer patients and 240 controls to determine how much coffee, tea and other foods and beverages including caffeine they consume. In addition to the patients, researchers will interview spouses as surrogate respondents. Many patients with this disease are too ill to be interviewed, or die before they can be interviewed, says West. In the study on cervical cancer, researchers will be investigating the role of vitamins A, C and E as preventative factors and smoking, herpes simplex, vagral douching and fat in the diet as risks for cancer, can-cer, says West. The results from the questionnaires and food analyses from 600 controls will be compared to those of 300 patients with carcinoma car-cinoma in situ (localized cancer that hasn't spread) and 150 patients with invasive cervical cancer. The fourth study in the project, which began in January, focuses on twins and examines the influence of genetics, diet And other environmental en-vironmental factors on hormones. Hormones may play a role in prostatic cancer and other prostatic disease. West says all studies will be underway un-derway by next February, and he expects results to be compiled by 198U. |
