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Colon cancer incidence among Hispanic immigrants increased after acculturation
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Digestive Disease Week 2009
Results of a study involving Hispanic immigrants showed that their rates of colon cancer increased as they became more accustomed to life in the United States, and particularly as they adopted a high-fat Western diet.
“Acculturation was a significant independent predictor of colon cancer, and it was associated with certain dietary profiles like increased fat content from pastries and decreased milk consumption,” said Neal Joseph, MD, of the New York University School of Medicine. Joseph presented the results at Digestive Disease Week 2009 in Chicago.
Researchers enrolled 807 self-identified Hispanics referred for screening colonoscopy at New York University School of Medicine. Most patients, 93%, were immigrants who had been in the United States for an average of 28 years. The researchers administered a validated acculturation survey along with a standardized dietary habit assessment to a subset of patients.
The prevalence of adenomas was higher among the acculturated patients compared with the non-acculturated patients (25% vs. 11%, P=.046). Among the dietary factors assessed, acculturated Hispanics were more likely to consume pastries (72% vs. 55%, P=.047) and less likely to drink milk (69% vs. 86%, P=.036). After controlling for age, gender, BMI and number of years in the United States, Joseph said acculturation remained a significant predictor for disease (OR=4.5; 95% CI, 1.2-1.8).
“It’s a product of the Westernized diet,” he said. “We can’t simply say that it’s these two things that cause increased colorectal cancer risk, but it’s a study that can show that they are linked, and we need more studies with larger sample sizes to show this link.” – by Jason Harris
What we eat is hugely important. Most physicians still think of disease as something that falls from the sky into our laps, but disease in a large part depends on how we live, on what we eat. There is no question that our diet of ridiculous amounts of dairy and refined carbohydrates and meat and processed food is making us sick and is without question contributing to the high rates of disease we’re seeing in my specialty of gastroenterology: reflux disease, diverticulosis, colon cancer, gall bladder disease. When we look at a factor like acculturation, smoking and diet are the two largest factors in terms of disease.
– Robynne Chutkan, MD
Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology
Georgetown
University Hospital, Washington, D.C.
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