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Although smoking and alcohol consumption are the major risk factors for upper aerodigestive tract cancers, observational studies indicate a protective role for fruits, vegetables, and antioxidant nutrients.The authors examined whether daily supplementation with 50 mg dl α‐tocopheryl acetate and/or 20 mg β‐carotene reduced the incidence of or mortality from oral/pharyngeal, esophageal, and laryngeal cancers in the Alpha‐Tocopherol, Beta‐Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) study, a double‐blind, placebo‐controlled primary prevention trial conducted in southwestern Finland. A total of 29,133 male smokers, aged 50–69 years and free of cancer at baseline, were randomized in a 2 × 2 factorial design to the supplementation regimen for 5–8 years (median, 6.1 years). Incident cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx (n = 65), esophagus (n = 24), and larynx (n = 56) were identified through the Finnish Cancer Registry. Intervention effects were assessed using survival analysis and proportional hazards models.There was no effect of either agent on the overall incidence of any upper aerodigestive tract cancer. For larynx, however, exploratory subgroup analyses were suggestive of a protective effect of β‐carotene supplementation on the incidence of early stage malignancies (stage I, relative risk [RR], 0.28, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.10–0.75). Neither agent affected mortality from these neoplasms.The results do not provide support for a protective effect of vitamin E or β‐carotene supplementation on upper aerodigestive tract cancers, although β‐carotene supplementation may impact the incidence of some subtypes of laryngeal tumors. Cancer 2007 © 2007 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relative risks for lung and bladder cancers by smoking intensity level off at more than 15–20 cigarettes per day. A three-parameter excess relative risk model in pack-years and intensity quantified this leveling (Lubin et al., Am J Epidemiol 2007;166:479–89). Above 15–20 cigarettes per day was an “inverse exposure rate” effect whereby, for equal pack-years, the excess relative risk/pack-year decreased with increasing intensity; that is, smoking at a lower intensity for a longer duration was more deleterious than smoking at a higher intensity for a shorter duration. After adjustment for pack-years, intensity effects were quantitatively homogeneous across multiple case-control studies of lung, bladder, oral cavity, pancreas, and esophagus cancers. The authors extended those analyses to examine intensity patterns for incident bladder, esophagus, kidney, larynx, liver, lung, oropharynx, and pancreas cancers by using data from a single prospective cohort in Finland, the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study, with follow-up from enrollment, which occurred between 1985 and 1988, through April 2004. At more than 10 cigarettes per day, they found an inverse exposure rate pattern for each cancer site. After adjustment for pack-years, intensity effects were quantitatively homogeneous across the diverse cancer sites and homogeneous with intensity effects from the prior analysis of multiple studies. Consistency of intensity patterns suggested a general phenomenon and may provide clues to the molecular basis of smoking-related cancer risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diet may affect mood and cognitive functions. Tryptophan and serine augmentation strategies have been applied for patients with mood or psychotic disorders. We studied the association between dietary intake of amino acids and low mood. We studied 29,133 men aged 50–69 years for 5–8 years in a population-based trial in Finland. Intake of amino acids was calculated from a diet history questionnaire completed by 27,111 men at baseline. Self-reports of depressed mood were recorded thrice a year, data on hospital treatment due to depressive disorders were derived from the national Hospital Discharge Register, and suicides were identified from death certificates. Participants were smokers at study entry. Strengths of our study include detailed data on food consumption, a substantial number of study participants, a long prospective follow-up time, and versatile data on indices of low mood. We found no association between the dietary intake of amino acids and self-report of depressed mood or risk of suicide. However, dietary intake of lysine and serine was associated with risk of hospital treatment due to major depressive disorder but these associations disappeared after excluding from analysis those who had reported depressed mood at study entry. There is no consistent association between dietary intake of amino acids and low mood. Depression and Anxiety 18:89–94, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adiponectin, a hormone secreted by adipocytes, has insulin-sensitizing, antidiabetic, antiinflammatory, and antiangiogenic properties. The authors conducted a nested case-control study in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study cohort, a cohort of male Finnish smokers aged 50–69 years at baseline, to test whether prediagnostic adiponectin concentrations are associated with pancreatic cancer. Between January 1985 and October 2004, 311 incident exocrine pancreatic cancer cases were diagnosed among cohort participants with serum samples. Controls (n = 510) were alive and free of cancer at the time the case was diagnosed and were matched to the cases by age and date of blood drawing. The authors used conditional logistic regression adjusted for smoking, blood pressure, and C-peptide level to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for pancreatic cancer. Higher adiponectin concentrations were inversely associated with pancreatic cancer (for highest quintile (>9.8 μg/mL) vs. lowest (≤4.6 μg/mL), odds ratio = 0.65, 95% confidence interval: 0.39, 1.07; P-trend = 0.04). The inverse association was significant among cases diagnosed 5 or more years after blood collection (n = 238) (for highest quintile vs. lowest, odds ratio = 0.55, 95% confidence interval: 0.31, 0.98; P-trend = 0.03). These results support the hypothesis that higher adiponectin concentrations may be inversely associated with the development of pancreatic cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The associations of dietary folate, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and methionine intakes with risk of stroke subtypes were examined among 26,556 male Finnish smokers, aged 50–69 years, enrolled in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study. Dietary intake was assessed at baseline by using a validated food frequency questionnaire. During a mean follow-up of 13.6 years, from 1985 through 2004, 2,702 cerebral infarctions, 383 intracerebral hemorrhages, and 196 subarachnoid hemorrhages were identified from national registers. In analyses adjusting for age and cardiovascular risk factors, a high folate intake was associated with a statistically significant lower risk of cerebral infarction but not intracerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhages. The multivariate relative risk of cerebral infarction was 0.80 (95% confidence interval: 0.70, 0.91; ptrend = 0.001) for men in the highest versus lowest quintile of folate intake. Vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and methionine intakes were not significantly associated with any subtype of stroke. These findings in men suggest that a high dietary folate intake may reduce the risk of cerebral infarction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]