Symposium Interactions of Diet and Nutrition with Genetic …

Short Description
of the role of diet and nutrition in carcinogenesis and cancer. prevention. Increasingly, there is evidence that genetic variation …

Website: jn.nutrition.org | Filesize: 123kb

Content
Symposium: Interactions of Diet and Nutrition with Genetic
Susceptibility in Cancer
Overview1
Jo L. Freudenheim2 and Rashmi Sinha*
Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14214
and *Division of Cancer Epidemiology & Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health,
Rockville, MD 20892
There is considerable evidence from observational epidemiology
indicating that nutrition is of importance in the
etiology and prevention of cancer (Trichopoulos and Willett
1996, World Cancer Research Fund 1997). Dietary factors
appear to contribute to the etiology of the major cancers
including lung cancer (Ziegler et al. 1996), colorectal cancer
(Potter 1996), breast cancer (Hunter and Willett 1996) and
prostate cancer (Kolonel 1996). However, the mechanisms
underlying these associations and the specific nutrients or
other food components responsible for the observed effects are
far from clear. The inclusion of biological markers of exposure
and of disease and predisease conditions in epidemiologic
investigations of cancer is allowing for some elucidation of
mechanisms and of relevant active agents. In addition, an
understanding of the role of endogenous factors, particularly
genetic factors, is of importance in our growing understanding
of the role of diet and nutrition…