Hungarian cancer mortality and food availability data in the last four decades of the 20th century.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the dietary risk factors present in the nutrition of the Hungarian population. METHOD: We evaluated Hungarian cancer mortality data, and carried out a comparative analysis of the Hungarian National Food Balance Sheets (food availability) and dietary surveys (energy and nutrient intake). RESULTS: The cancer mortality rate in Hungary is the highest in Europe and an analysis of the past 40 years has revealed a worsening trend. Assessment of the Hungarian dietary pattern suggests that the high fat intake could be a possible risk factor in the development of lung, colon, rectum, female breast and prostate cancer. The availability of fats in Hungary was found to be the highest in a European comparison in the second half of the 1990s, while the average fat energy percentage in the diet of the male and female population was 38.0% (SD 5.7) between 1992 and 1994. Apart from the high fat consumption, the insufficient intake of vegetables and fruits could be identified as a major, convincing risk factor present in the nutrition of Hungarians, and plays a role in the development of mouth and pharynx, esophagus, lung, stomach, colon and rectum cancers, and is a probable risk factor in the development of pancreatic tumors. The availability of vegetables and fruits in the Hungarian population is one of the lowest in Europe and, in addition, the intake of dietary fiber, carotenoids, and ascorbic acid is also inadequate. CONCLUSION: Hungary has the highest cancer mortality rate in Europe, and the death rate associated with this disease is increasing. Our analysis of food balance sheets and dietary survey data clearly demonstrate the presence of certain known dietary risk factors in the nutrition of the Hungarian population.

Household budget survey nutritional data in relation to mortality from coronary heart disease, colorectal cancer and female breast cancer in European countries. DAFNE I and II projects of the European Commission. Data Food Networking.

OBJECTIVE: We have undertaken a study to examine whether Household Budget Survey (HBS)-derived nutritional patterns are related to mortality from diseases with strong nutritional components, namely coronary heart disease, colorectal cancer and cancer of the female breast. DESIGN: Ecological correlation study. In the context of the Data Food Networking projects of the European Union, raw data from the national HBS of 10 European countries were provided. For each of the 10 participating countries, daily food availability per capita around 1990 was calculated. Individual foods were aggregated into 12 major food groups that were linked with the diseases under consideration. Mortality data were available from a World Health Organisation database. We have used a composite score to summarise the postulated influence of diet. SETTING: Ten European countries circa 1990. RESULTS: The correlation coefficients between the composite score and the age-adjusted mortality from each of the studied diseases were: + 0.51 (P approximately 0.14) for colorectal cancer; +0.72 (P approximately 0.02) for female breast cancer; and +0.60 (P approximately 0.07) for coronary heart disease, after adjustment for tobacco smoking. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that dietary information from HBS is sufficiently reliable to reveal correlations with mortality rates from chronic diseases with fairly strong nutritional roots. HBS data could be used, with little cost, for monitoring secular trends in dietary patterns with a view to their health implications.