Diet and the prevention of cancer

BMJ 1999;319:186 ( 17 July )

Letters

Diet and the prevention of cancer

Author's recommendations are not justified

Whether meat is a risk factor for cancer remains uncertain

Consumption of oily fish should be encouraged

No evidence has linked ovarian cancer with high intakes of fat and meat

Authors' reply

Author's recommendations are not justified

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ The epidemiological literature justifies only two of the conclusions that Cummings and Bingham draw in their reviewabout diet and the prevention of cancer: the recommendations toavoid (high doses of) vitamin supplements and mouldy foods.¹Even the cited report of the World Cancer Research Fund showsthat the overall evidence for dietary recommendations is weakif one takes into account the more reliable data from prospectivecohort and intervention studies.²

Cummings and Bingham give an excellent example of publication bias in their section on colorectal cancer and red meat: theycite two prospective studies that support a role for red meatin colorectal carcinogenesis. What they do not mention is that $---$ besideat least three other studies $---$ five prospective studies cited inthe World Cancer Research Fund's report did not find a significantassociation with redmeat.

It is not yet proved that heterocyclic amines or N. . . [Full text of this article]

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Fortnightly review: Diet and the prevention of cancer: John H Cummings and Sheila A Bingham
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