Whole grain food intake and cancer risk

Abstract

The relationship between frequency of consumption of whole grain food and risk of selected neoplasms has been analysed using data from an integrated series of case-control studies conducted in northern Italy between 1983 and 1996. The overall dataset included the following incident, Odds ratios (OR) for subsequent scores (never/occasional/ frequent) of whole grain food consumption were derived after allowance for age, sex, education, smoking, alcohol intake and body mass index. High intake of whole grain foods consistently reduced risk of neoplasm at all sites, except thyroid. The ORs for the highest category of consumption were 0.2-0.3 for upper digestive and respiratory tract neoplasms, 0.5 for stomach, colon and gallbladder, 0.7 for rectum, 0.6 for liver, 0.8 for pancreas and prostate, 0.9 for breast and endometrium, 0.6 for ovary, 0.4 for bladder and kidney, 1.3 for thyroid and around 0.5 for lymphomas and myeloma. The tests for trend in risks were significant for all neoplasms, except pancreas, endometrium, Hodgkin's disease and multiple myeloma. No significant heterogeneity was found across strata of age at diagnosis, sex, education, smoking habit, alcohol intake and body mass index. Thus, even in the absence of a univocal and satisfactory biological interpretation, the consistency of the patterns observed indicate that, in this population, higher frequency of whole grain food intake is an indicator of reduced risk of several neoplasms. Int.

Intake of whole grains and incidence of oesophageal cancer in the HELGA Cohort

“…Our results are in line with results from case-control studies on whole grains and oesophageal cancer [9][10][11][12], and on dietary fibre and oesophageal cancer [15,16], as well as a small prospective study on whole grains [13]. Most of the early studies have not differentiated between histological subtypes, but the review on dietary fibre and oesophageal cancer suggested stronger associations for adenocarcinomas than for squamous cell carcinomas [15].…”

“…Our study was relatively small, and suggested similar associations for both histological subtypes, but the results for the oesophageal adenocarcinomas were not significant. No other studies have investigated different grains separately, and in general, little information is given on different whole-grain products, although bread and pasta have been pointed out as the main sources of whole grains in different populations [9,11]. It is not clear why the association between whole grains and oesophageal cancer differs by grain type or food product.…”

“…Compared to refined grains, whole grains are rich in dietary fibre, phytochemicals, B vitamins and other active substances with possible health effects [8]. Few studies on whole grains and oesophageal cancer are available, but case-control studies have found that higher frequency of whole-grain intake is associated with a lower risk for oesophageal cancer [9][10][11][12]. A small prospective study (n = 21 cases) suggested the same [13].…”

Perceived relevance and foods with health-related claims

“…The regular consumption of wholegrain cereals has been associated with reduced risk of various types of diseases, including type 2 diabetes (Chatenoud et al, 1998;Liu et al, 2000;Meyer et al, 2009). Therefore the health-related messages in this study where associated with products that contain cereals.…”

Vegetarische Ernährung: Präventives Potenzial und mögliche Risiken

“…Im Hinblick auf das Risiko für verschiedene epitheliale Tumoren zeigt eine Metaanalyse von 40 FallKontroll-Studien einen protektiven Effekt bei hohem Vollkornverzehr[99]. Ein ähnliches Ergebnis ergab die Auswertung der von 1983-1996 in Norditalien durchgeführten Fall-Kontroll-Studien[100]. Auch neuere FallKontroll-und Kohortenstudien deuten auf einen risikominimierenden Effekt eines hohen Vollkornverzehrs, insbesondere bei Tumoren des Rektums[101], des Kolons[102] und der Brust[103] hin.…”