A study on the carcinogenicity of human diets in rats: the influence of heating and the addition of vegetables and fruit

The influence of dietary factors such as total composition, thermal processing, and the addition of vegetables and fruit on the tumour rate in rats was studied in a long-term experiment. Groups of 50 male and 50 female Wistar rats were fed one of the following diets: a semi-synthetic animal diet (A, control); diet A to which vegetables and fruit were added (B); an uncooked human diet (meat, bread and eggs) supplemented with semi-synthetic compounds (C); diet C with fried or baked products (D); a complete human diet consisting of heated products, vegetables and fruit prepared according to mean consumption figures in The Netherlands (E). The animal diets (A and B) contained 26.0 energy (E)% protein, 21.6 E% fat, 52.4 E% carbohydrate and 10.7% (w/w) fibre. The human diets contained 13.2 E% protein, 40.6 E% fat, 46.2 E% carbohydrate and 5% (w/w) fibre. The rats were fed ad lib. for 142 wk. In males and females fed human diets (C, D or E) hepatocellular vacuolization was observed. Male rats (but not female) fed the human diet had a significantly (P less than 0.02) higher incidence of epithelial tumours than those fed the animal diet. This increase was mainly due to tumours of the pituitary and thyroid. Frying and baking of food products (diet D) and the addition of vegetables and fruit (diet E) induced minor differences in tumour rate, but they were not statistically significant.