THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK

Analysis of data from an 8-year-long European trial has concluded that a diet high in fruits and vegetables has only modest impact on people’s risk for cancer — but the study was again so flawed that it is hard to know what it really shows.

The article by Boffetta et al. in the Journal of the Natonal Cancer Institute suggests only that, “A very small inverse association between intake of total fruits and vegetables and cancer risk was observed” in their study of data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort, despite the fact that it included nearly 480,000 individuals who were diagnosed with more than 30,000 cancers between 1992 and 2000. The authors further state that, “Given the small magnitude of the observed associations [in this study], caution should be applied in their interpretation.”

The bottom line to this study, as with all too many of the studies that have been carried out in attempts to prove links between diet and cancer, is that it wasn’t well enough designed to have much hope of proving the hypothesis it set out to test. If we really want to be able to understand the associations (if any) between diet and cancer in general (let alone prostate cancer in particular), we are going to have to commit to much more sophisticated studies, probably starting in much younger people and following them for many more years.

Some helpful context to the data in this study is provided in the accompanying editorial by Willett, which is available in full on the same web site. It is worth giving his concluding paragraph in full:

In summary, the findings from the EPIC cohort add further evidence that a broad effort to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables will not have a major effect on cancer incidence. Such efforts are still worthwhile because they will reduce risks of cardiovascular disease, and a small benefit for cancer remains possible. Research should focus more sharply on specific fruits and vegetables and their constituents and on earlier periods of life. For prevention of cancer, the primary focus at present should be heightened efforts to reduce smoking and obesity because obesity in the United States has become similar in magnitude to smoking as an avoidable cause.

Filed under: Diagnosis, Prevention, Risk Tagged: | diet, fruit, Prevention, risk, vegetable