bananas and cancer

From: Doug Skrecky (oberon@vcn.bc.ca)
Date: Sun Feb 28 1999 - 21:09:51 MST


Citations: 1-4
<1>
Authors
  Le Marchand L. Hankin JH. Wilkens LR. Kolonel LN. Englyst HN. Lyu LC.
Institution
  Etiology Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Research
  Center, Honolulu, USA.
Title
  Dietary fiber and colorectal cancer risk.
Source
  Epidemiology. 8(6):658-65, 1997 Nov.
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.

<2>
Authors
  Sankaranarayanan R. Varghese C. Duffy SW. Padmakumary G. Day NE. Nair
  MK.
Institution
  Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, Kerala, S. India.
Title
  A case-control study of diet and lung cancer in Kerala,
  south India.
Source
  International Journal of Cancer. 58(5):644-9, 1994 Sep 1.
Abstract
  A total of 281 male lung-cancer patients were identified
  from the hospital cancer registry in the Regional
  Cancer Centre in Trivandrum. The controls were selected from
  the visitors and patients' bystanders in the hospital. The recruitment of
  cases and controls started in 1990, and the present study used the cases
  registered in the first year. The questionnaire administered to cases and
  controls collected information on tobacco smoking and alcohol habits. Dietary
  data were collected using a food frequency questionnaire and were analyzed by
  multiple logistic regression producing odds ratio estimates of the relative
  risk and deviance chi-squared tests of significance. Analysis was done on the
  computer package, EGRET. All models included age, education, religion and
  smoking to adjust for the effect of confounding. Green vegetables and
  bananas were found to have a protective association with
  lung cancer. The odds ratio associated with the highest
  quartile of vegetable consumption compared with the lowest was 0.32 (95%
  confidence interval 0.13, 0.78). Forward stepwise regression analysis
  indicated pumpkins and onions as the most consistently significant protective
  factors. Animal protein foods and dairy products were found to have a
  predisposing effect on lung cancer in this study. The
  expected influence of smoking on lung cancer (a considerable
  increase in risk among smokers) provided evidence of the reliability of the
  data. In conclusion the results from this study show that diet has a role in
  lung cancer aetiology, although the association is weak
  compared to the effects of smoking.
<3>
Authors
  Zheng T. Boyle P. Willett WC. Hu H. Dan J. Evstifeeva TV. Niu S.
  MacMahon B.
Institution
  Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, European Institute of Oncology,
  Milan, Italy.
Title
  A case-control study of oral cancer in Beijing, People's
  Republic of China. Associations with nutrient intakes, foods and food groups.
Source
  European Journal of Cancer. Part B, Oral Oncology.
  29B(1):45-55, 1993 Jan.
Abstract
  A case-control study of oral cancer was conducted in
  Beijing, People's Republic of China to examine the association between
  dietary nutrient intake and risk of oral cancer, both in
  terms of estimated intake of nutrients and micro-nutrients, and in terms of
  specific foods and food groups. The study was hospital-based and controls
  were hospital in-patients matched for age and sex with the cases. The
  response rate for cases and controls was 100% and 404 case/control pairs were
  interviewed. The results suggest that increased protein and fat intake are
  related to a decreased risk of oral cancer. Carbohydrate
  intake, however, showed a moderate increased risk for oral
  cancer. Total carotene intake and carotene intake from
  fruits and vegetables are inversely associated with risk of oral
  cancer. A similar pattern was observed for dietary vitamin C
  intake. Dietary fibre derived from fruits and vegetables showed a strong
  negative association with oral cancer risk, but fibre
  derived from other sources did not exhibit any protective effect. At the
  level of foods and food groups, increased consumption of fresh meat, chicken
  and liver was significantly associated with a reduction in oral
  cancer risk: the tests for trend were all statistically
  significant at the P < 0.01 level. Consumption of common carp, hairtail,
  shrimp and lobster were also associated with decreased risk. Risk was found
  to increase with increasing consumption of millet and corn bread (P < 0.01)
  but to decrease with increasing consumption of rice (P < 0.01). Increased
  consumption of grapes, bananas, oranges, tangerines, peaches
  and pears were associated with reduced risk.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

<4>
Authors
  Jansson B.
Institution
  Department of Biomathematics, University of Texas M.D. Anderson
  Cancer Center, Houston 77030.
Title
  Dietary, total body, and intracellular potassium-to-sodium ratios and their
  influence on cancer. [Review] [9 refs]
Source
  Cancer Detection & Prevention. 14(5):563-5, 1990.
Abstract
  One of the greatest changes in the human diet, a change that has occurred
  only within the past few thousand years, is the immense increase in the
  intake of sodium (Na) caused by use of table salt in the preparation and
  preservation of food. At the same time, man's intake of potassium (K) has
  decreased. The result is that from Paleolithic times to modern times the
  dietary K/Na ratio has been reduced by a factor of about 20. Based on a
  comparison of modern people in civilized areas with the primitive Yanomamo
  Indians in South America (who do not eat salt but who do grow and eat
  potassium-rich cooking bananas), this factor may even be on
  the order of 100 to 200. Humans, who initially had to adapt to retain sodium
  from a sodium-poor diet and to excrete potassium from a potassium-rich diet,
  have not yet evolutionarily adapted to today's high-sodium, low-potassium
  diet. This failure has caused increased rates of a number of diseases in
  civilized man, among them cancer. The influence of the K/Na
  ratio on cancer development--first discovered by
  epidemiologic studies--has been confirmed by various means, such as dietary
  studies, gerontological studies, studies of relationships between hyper- and
  hypokalemic diseases and cancer, and review of the cellular
  changes of this ratio induced by carcinogenic and anticarcinogenic agents.
  Recently, animal experiments have also confirmed the results. The recommended
  dietary K/Na ratio should be well above 1, preferably 5 or higher, and the
  cellular K/Na ratio should be above 10. [References: 9]



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