Role of life-style and dietary habits in risk of cancer among seventh-day adventists
Phillips, R.L.
Cancer Research 35(11 Pt. 2): 3513-3522
1975
ISSN/ISBN: 0008-5472 PMID: 1192416 Document Number: 86677
Seventh-Day Adventists abstain from smoking and drinking; about 50% eat a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet and most avoid the use of coffee, tea, hot condiments and spices. Existing data on cancer among Seventh-Day Adventists show that mortality rates are 50 to 70% of those of the general population for most cancer sites that are unrelated to smoking and drinking. Physicians who are Seventh-Day Adventists or not show equal cancer mortality, consistent with the hypothesis that the apparent reduced risk of cancer death in all Adventists may be due to selective factors. A small case-control study of colon and breast cancer among Adventists showed significant relative risks for colon cancer of 2.8 for past use of meat. For current food use, the significant relative risks were 2.3 for beef, 2.7 for lamb and 2.1 for a combined group of highly saturated fat foods, strongly suggesting that lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet may protect against colon cancer, but evidence linking diet to breast cancer is less clear. Because of the wide variability in dietary habits within the Seventh-Day Adventist population, they merit further study of diet and cancer.