Differences in dietary habits can predict colorectal adenoma, according to a study done in Europe comparing three distinct eating habits.
The study, conducted for the European Cancer Prevention Organization Study Group, looked at the relationship data between individual foods and nutrients to colorectal tumors and found that they can be conflicting. Researchers looked at eating habits over three years. The habits compared were Mediterranean, sweets and snacks, and high-protein food choices.
Among 640 patients with confirmed adenomas, 592 had an initial dietary assessment using a diet history questionnaire. There were 277 men and 165 women without history of adenoma prior to the index colonoscopy who completed the three-year study.
Over the time frame about 92 patients (65 men and 24 women) presented new colorectal adenomas.
The findings were gender-based. In men, three meaningful dietary patterns emerged from analysis, explaining 21.3 percent of variability. They were called Mediterranean, sweets and snacks and High fat and proteins patterns.
None of them were significantly related to the overall recurrence of colorectal adenomas either in univariate or multivariate analyses.
Among women, the Mediterranean, the Western and the Snacks patterns explained 21.9 percent of variability.
The Mediterranean pattern, characterized by a high consumption of olive oil, vegetables, fruit, fish and lean meat, significantly reduced adenoma recurrence.
The Western and snacks patterns were not associated with recurrence among women.
The study concluded that the Mediterranean dietary pattern may reduce the recurrence of colorectal adenomas, at least in women. These exploratory results need to be confirmed by larger studies.
http://journals.lww.com/eurjcancerprev/pages/results.aspx?txtKeywords=snacks