Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 15, 1995 TAG: 9502150072
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Dr. Edward Giovannucci of the Harvard School of Public Health said Tuesday that a study of the health habits and diets of more than 51,000 male health-care professionals showed that those who had two or more drinks daily while following a poor diet were three times as likely to develop colon cancer.
Giovannucci said Tuesday that alcohol seems to aggravate the effects of a diet low in fruit, vegetables, fish and low-fat foods.
Such a diet, he said, deprives people of two ingredients in those foods: methionine, an important amino acid, and folate, a nutrient that is key to making methionine.
``The poor diet is a risk factor alone, but it particularly strong when you see it together with alcohol consumption,'' said the researcher. ``Some dietary component, like folate acid, is required to explain this.''
Giovannucci said studies have shown that alcohol tends to block the absorption or proper metabolism of folate acid.
People who drink, but who also eat the right foods, have about the same colon cancer risk as nondrinkers, he said.``To some extent, this study is reassuring to people who drink in moderation and who have a good diet,'' said Giovannucci. ``To them, the risk of colon cancer is not much higher than average.
A report on the study is to be published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The study is based on a questionnaire filled out by male health professionals, aged 40 to 75, in 1986. In the six years since, 205 in the group have developed colon cancer. The researchers compared the reported diets of those with cancer and those who are cancer-free.
Giovannucci said the study showed some reduction of colon cancer risk if people took vitamin pills containing folate, but ``there are other nutrients in vegetables - and we don't know what all of them are - that are also important. It would be a mistake to think you could have a bad diet and depend on vitamin supplements to make up the difference.''
by CNB