Articles on whole grain consumption and risk of colorectal cancer: a population-based cohort of 60,000 women.

1. Article Summary: We examined prospectively the association between whole grain consumption and colorectal cancer risk in the population-based Swedish Mammography Cohort. A total of 61,433 women completed a food-frequency questionnaire at baseline (1987-1990) and, through linkage with the Swedish Cancer Registry, 805 incident cases of colorectal cancer were identified during a mean follow-up of 14.8 years. High consumption of whole grains was associated with a lower risk of colon cancer, but not of rectal cancer. The multivariate rate ratio of colon cancer for the top category of whole grain consumption (> or = 4.5 servings day(-1)) compared with the bottom category (<1.5 servings day(-1)) was 0.67 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.47-0.96; P-value for trend=0.06). The corresponding relative ratio after excluding cases occurring within the first 2 years of follow-up was 0.65 (95% CI, 0.45-0.94; P-value for trend=0.04). Our findings suggest that high consumption of whole grains may decrease the risk of colon cancer in women.

Article Authors:Larsson SC, Giovannucci E, Bergkvist L, Wolk A.Division of Nutritional Epidemiology, The National Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Box 210, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden.

Article Source: British Jounal of Cancer, 2005 May 9;92(9):1803-7. PMID: 15827552.
Fiber intake and prostate cancer risk.

2. Article Summary: Dietary fiber has been reported to protect from several neoplasms, but the issue remains controversial. No previous study considered in depth the topic of fibers and prostate cancer. A multicentre case-control study was conducted in Italy from 1991 to 2002, including 1,294 men with incident, histologically confirmed prostate cancer and 1,451 controls admitted to the same network of hospitals as cases with acute nonmalignant conditions. Multivariate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were obtained after allowance for major identified confounding factors, including total energy intake. Compared to the lowest quintile, the odds ratio of prostate cancer for the highest quintile of total fiber intake was 0.93 (95% CI 0.71-1.22). The risk was inversely related with soluble fiber (odds ratio = 0.89, 95% CI 0.78-1.02, for a difference between 80th and 20th percentile), cellulose (odds ratio = 0.88, 95% CI 0.78-1.01) and vegetable fiber (odds ratio = 0.82, 95% CI 0.73-0.93). These relationships were consistent across strata of age, family history of prostate cancer, body mass index and education. Vegetable fibres appear, therefore, to have a favourable association with prostate cancer risk.

Article Authors:Pelucchi C, Talamini R, Galeone C, Negri E, Franceschi S, Dal Maso L, Montella M, Conti E, La Vecchia C. Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Milan, Italy.

Article Source: International Journal of Cancer, 2004 Mar 20;109(2):278-80. PMID: 14750181.