An ecological study of diet and lung cancer in the South Pacific

✍ Scribed by Loïc Le Marchand; Jean H. Hankin; François Bach; Laurence N. Kolonel; Lynne R. Wilkens; Maria Stacewicz-Sapuntzakis; Phyllis E. Bowen; Gary R. Beecher; François Laudon; Pierre Baqué; Roro Daniel; Laijia Seruvatu; Brian E. Henderson

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 648 KB
• Volume: 63
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.2910630105

✦ Synopsis

Incidence rates of lung cancer have been markedly lower for

Fiji than for other South Pacific countries, despite similar rates of smoking. We conducted population-based surveys in several island nations of the South Pacific (Cook Islands. Fiji, Tahiti and New Caledonia) and used data from Caucasian, Japanese, Hawaiian, Filipino and Chinese controls in a case-control study of lung cancer in Hawaii to investigate the role of diet in explaining differences in lung cancer incidence among 20 ethnicsex groups. In a stepwise linear regression of lung cancer rates on smoking, diet and other variables, smoking, as expected, explained the majority (61%) of the variability in incidence. However, several dietary components also explained significant portions of the variance. Lutein intake explained 14% and vitamin E intake, cholesterol intake and height explained 5-7% each of the remaining variance in incidence. Associations with lutein and vitamin E were inverse, whereas those with cholesterol and height were direct. Dietary B-carotene intake was not associated with lung cancer incidence. These ecological data provide evidence for a protective effect of lutein against lung cancer. A protective effect of dietary vitamin E and a riskenhancing effect of dietary cholesterol are also suggested.