The relationship of passive smoking to diet was examined in 82 female nonsmokers who provided a quantitative diet history in 1986. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) was assessed by urinary cotinine measurement. Mean values for each dietary variable, adjusted for age, ethnicity, education, and last week's ethanol intake, were compared among unexposed women and women with low or high ETS exposure. Linear relationships with amount of ETS exposure were also sought. Intakes of beta-carotene and cholesterol were found to be inversely related to ETS exposure. Since these nutrients have been associated with lung cancer risk, they are potential confounders of the passive-smoking/lung-cancer relationship. Although we estimate the confounding effect of these dietary factors to be modest, they should be measured carefully in future studies of this relationship.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Le Marchand L, Ntilivamunda A, Kolonel LN, Vanderford MK. Relationship of smoking to other life-style factors among several ethnic groups. Asian-Pac J Public Health 1988; 2: 120–6.
Fehily AM, Phillips KM, Yarnell JWG. Diet, smoking, social class, and body mass index in the Caerphilly Heart Disease Study. Am J Clin Nutr 1984; 40: 827–33.
Le Marchand L, Yoshizawa CN, Kolonel LN, Hankin JH, Goodman MT. Vegetable consumption and lung cancer risk: A population-based case-control study in Hawaii. JNCI 1989; 81: 1158–64.
Goodman MT, Kolonel LN, Yoshizawa CN, Hankin JH. The effect of dietary cholesterol and fat on the risk of lung cancer in Hawaii. Am J Epidemiol 1988; 128: 1241–55.
Jain M, Burch JD, Howe GR, Risch HA, Miller AB. Dietary factors and risk of lung cancer: Results from a case-control study, Toronto, 1981–1985. Int J Cancer 1990; 45: 287–93.
Hinds MW, Kolonel LN, Hankin JH, Lee J. Dietary vitamin A, carotene, vitamin C and risk of lung cancer in Hawaii. Am J Epidemiol 1984; 119: 227–37.
Hankin JH. A diet history method for research, clinical and community use. Twenty-third Lenna Frances Cooper Memorial Lecture. J Am Diet Assoc 1986; 86: 868–75.
Haley NJ, Axelrad CM, Tilton KA. Validation of self-reported smoking behavior: Biochemical analyses of cotinine and thiocyanate. Am J Public Health 1983; 73: 1204–7.
Langone JJ, Gjika HB, Van Vunakis H. Nicotine and its metabolites. Radioimmunoassays for nicotine and cotinine. Biochemistry 1973; 12: 5025–30.
National Research Council. Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Measuring Exposures and Assessing Health Effects. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1986.
Snedecor GW, Cochran WG. Statistical Methods. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 1967.
Le Marchand L, Kolonel LN, Hankin JH, Yoshizawa CN. Relationship of alcohol consumption to diet: a population-based study in Hawaii. Am J Clin Nutr 1989; 49: 567–72.
Gruchow HW, Sobocinski KA, Barboriak JJ, et al. Alcohol consumption, nutrient intake and relative body weight among US adults. Am J Clin Nutr 1985; 42: 289–95.
Jarvis MJ, Tunstall-Pedoe H, Feyerabend C, Vesey C, Saloojee Y. Comparison of tests used to distinguish smokers from nonsmokers. Am J Public Health 1987; 77: 1435–8.
Dalager NA, Pickle LW, Mason TJ, et al. The relation of passive smoking to lung cancer. Cancer Res 1986; 46: 4808–11.
Kalandidi A, Katsouyanni K, Voropoulou N, Bastas G, Saracci R, Trichopoulos D. Passive smoking and diet in the etiology of lung cancer among non-smokers. Cancer Causes and Control 1990; 1: 15–21.
Schlesselman JJ. Assessing effects of confounding variables. Am J Epidemiol 1978; 108: 3–8.
Wald NJ, Nanchahal K, Thompson SG, Cuckle HS. Does breathing other people's tobacco smoke cause lung cancer? Br Med J 1986; 293: 1217–22.
US Department of Health and Human Services. Reducing the health consequences of smoking: 25 years progress. A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: DHHS Pub. No. (CDC) 89-8411, 1989.
Greenland S. The effect of misclassification in the presence of covariates. Am J Epidemiol 1980; 112: 564–9.
Copeland KT, Checkoway H, McMichael AJ, Holbrook RH. Bias due to misclassification in the estimation of relative risk. Am J Epidemiol 1977; 105: 488–95.
Hankin JH, Wilkens LR, Kolonel LN, Yoshizawa CN. Validation of a quantitative diet history method in Hawaii. Am J Epidemiol 130, in press.
Sidney S, Caan BJ, Friedman GD. Dietary intake of carotene in nonsmokers with and without passive smoking at home. Am J Epidemiol 1989; 129: 1305–9.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This work was supported in part by Public Health Service grant CA-33619 from the National Cancer Institute, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Le Marchand, L., Wilkens, L.R., Hankin, J.H. et al. Dietary patterns of female nonsmokers with and without exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. Cancer Causes Control 2, 11–16 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00052356
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00052356