Vegetarian diet linked to lower risk of colorectal cancers
2015-03-09
(Press-News.org) Eating a vegetarian diet was associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancers compared with nonvegetarians in a study of Seventh-Day Adventist men and women, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Although great attention has been paid to screening, primary prevention through lowering risk factors remains an important objective. Dietary factors have been identified as a modifiable risk factor for colorectal cancer, including red meat which is linked to increased risk and food rich in dietary fiber which is linked to reduced risk, according to the study background.
Among 77,659 study participants, Michael J. Orlich, M.D., Ph.D., of Loma Linda University, California, and coauthors identified 380 cases of colon cancer and 110 cases of rectal cancer. Compared with nonvegetarians, vegetarians had a 22 percent lower risk for all colorectal cancers, 19 percent lower risk for colon cancer and 29 percent lower risk for rectal cancer. Compared with nonvegetarians, vegans had a 16 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer, 18 percent less for lacto-ovo (eat milk and eggs) vegetarians, 43 percent less in pescovegetarians (eat fish) and 8 percent less in semivegetarians, according to study results.
"If such associations are causal, they may be important for primary prevention of colorectal cancers. ... The evidence that vegetarian diets similar to those of our study participants may be associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer, along with prior evidence of the potential reduced risk of obesity, hypertension, diabetes and mortality, should be considered carefully in making dietary choices and in giving dietary guidance," the study concludes.
INFORMATION:
(JAMA Intern Med. Published online March 9, 2015. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.59. Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com.)
Editor's Note: Project support was obtained from grants from the National Cancer Institute and World Cancer Research Fund. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author Michael J. Orlich, M.D., Ph.D., call Calvin Naito at 909-558-8419 or email cnaito@llu.edu.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2015-03-09
Rural suicide rates were nearly double those of urban areas for both males and females in a study of suicide deaths in young people ages 10 to 24, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics.
Suicide is a public health problem and in 2010 suicide was the third leading cause of death in young people behind only unintentional injuries and homicides, according to the study background.
Cynthia A. Fontanella, Ph.D., of Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, and coauthors provide an updated comparison of rural and urban youth suicides by analyzing ...
2015-03-09
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The adolescent and young-adult suicide rate in the United States was almost twice as high in rural settings than in urban areas between 1996 and 2010, and new research suggests that the gap appears to be widening.
Of the nearly 67,000 suicides analyzed, the rate of suicide for both males and females living in rural areas was about double the rate in cities.
The research, published in JAMA Pediatrics, also showed that gun use has decreased and that hanging has become a more common method of youth suicide for both males and females. Suicide rates by ...
2015-03-09
Middle-aged Americans who show high levels of societal involvement and mental health are especially likely to construe their lives as stories of personal redemption, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Previous research has shown that adults who are inclined toward generativity - the concern for and commitment to promoting the growth and well-being of future generations - are more likely to engage in a wide range of prosocial behaviors, including positive parenting styles, political participation, ...
2015-03-09
Just a weeks' worth of training can improve vision in older adults, according to new research in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings show that training boosted older adults' sensitivity to contrast and also their ability to see things clearly at close distances.
"Our research indicates that the visual system of older adults maintains a high degree of plasticity and demonstrates that training methods can be used to improve visual function," explains psychological scientist G. John Andersen of the University of California, ...
2015-03-09
Case Western Reserve University nurse scientist Amy Zhang, who has long examined quality-of-life issues in cancer patients, wondered whether depression in African-American cancer patients has been under-recognized for treatment.
Accurately assessing depression in cancer patients is difficult in general because the physical symptoms of cancer and depression--low energy, lack of sleep and loss of appetite--are so similar.
"African-American cancer patients are often sicker and have more severe physical symptoms," said Zhang, PhD, an associate professor at Case Western ...
2015-03-09
Future outbreaks of measles can only be prevented by vaccination.
An article published in Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health examined reasons people are hesitant to vaccinate.
In 2012, an imported case from Thailand led to a large measles outbreak in New South Wales, with 168 identified cases.
Ninety-five of the cases had not been vaccinated appropriately and 32 of these cases reported vaccine refusal as the reason for not being vaccinated.
"Active vaccine refusal is a significant issue and leaves a large group of children at unnecessary risk of measles ...
2015-03-09
Australian health websites are too difficult for many people to read.
This is the finding from a study published in Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
Matthew Dunn and Christina Cheng from Deakin University evaluated Australian online health information to see if it matched the reading level of Australians.
"Limited availability of 'easy-to-read' health materials suggests that many Australians may not be benefiting from the convenience of the internet," Dr Dunn said.
"For example, more than 12 million Australians were overweight or obese in 2007, yet ...
2015-03-09
If you want to know what a man's true attitude towards the female sex is, carefully watch how he smiles and chats to her. This advice is gleaned from a study by Jin Goh and Judith Hall of Northeastern University in the US, published in Springer's journal Sex Roles. It sheds light on how sexism subtly influences social interaction between men and woman.
Even though discrimination against women is thought to have decreased over the past six decades in the United States, instances of sexism are not difficult to find. Experts believe that such gender discrimination can be ...
2015-03-09
Researchers from Manchester, working with scientists in California, have found that certain molecules long thought to promote cancer growth, in fact suppress tumours, suggesting that therapeutic approaches should aim to restore, rather than block, their activity.
The protein kinase C (PKC) family of molecules are enzymes that facilitate a range of cellular processes, including cell survival, proliferation, migration and death. In the 1980s it was found that PKCs were activated by cancer-causing phorbol esters, and led to the conclusion that PKCs themselves induced the ...
2015-03-09
Reston, Va. (March 9, 2015) - A single scan could diagnose the cause of foot pain better and with less radiation exposure to the patient than other methods, according to a study in the March 2015 issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Imaging with 18F-fluoride positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MR), compared to 18F-fluoride positron emission tomography/computed topography (PET/CT), provides more diagnostic information with higher diagnostic certainty.
Foot pain is a common problem in the daily routine of any orthopedic surgeon. It can be ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Vegetarian diet linked to lower risk of colorectal cancers