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Jessie Satia-Abouta, Ph.D., Robert Sandler, M.D., M.P.H., and colleagues at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, found that high total calories consumed was consistently associated with an increase colon cancer risk for both African Americans and Caucasians - a finding that is "in keeping with what we have long recognized as the association between obesity and colon cancer," says Sandler, principal investigator on the NCI-supported study.
Coupled with findings from a previous study, the North Carolina Colon Cancer Study also suggests that African Americans may decrease their risk for colon cancer by consuming a diet high in fiber and low in saturated fat. A high level of dietary fiber was associated with a statistically significant 50 percent to 60 percent risk reduction in African Americans. The risk reduction in Caucasians was substantially lower. Alcohol intake was not associated with colon cancer risk for either group.
In the study, which included 613 participants aged 40 to 80 with colon cancer (276 of them African American) and 996 matched controls (400 African American), researchers interviewed participants about their potential colon
cancer risk factors, and assessed diet over a one-year period using a food frequency questionnaire.
A related analysis on the same study population suggests that high intakes of certain micronutrients in food sources - specifically, beta carotene, vitamin C, and calcium for Caucasians and vitamins C and E for African Americans - are independently associated with 30 percent to 70 percent reductions in colon cancer risk.
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