Diet, prolactin, and breast cancer.

Relationships between dietary nutrients and plasma prolactin concentration were studied in 249 women with a history of nonskin cancers among first-degree female relatives. For each quintile of nutrient density, the odds ratio (OR), relative to the lowest quintile, of having an elevated (above the median) prolactin concentration was estimated by logistic regression, taking into account parity, menopausal status, and current tobacco-smoking habits. For nutrient densities estimated from 24-h recall data there was a significant positive association between plasma prolactin concentration and increasing saturated fatty acid intake; the OR of elevated prolactin in the top quintile was 3.1 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2-8.1] and there was a negative association with vitamin C [OR in the top quintile 0.28, (95% CI 0.10-0.78)]. For usual nutrient densities (estimated by quantitative food frequency questionnaire) there was a statistically significant trend (P = 0.04) toward lower prolactin concentrations with increasing sodium density, and a marginally significant positive trend (P = 0.07) with increasing dietary density of refined sugars.

Sociodemographic determinants in Australia of the intake of food and nutrients implicated in cancer aetiology.

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the role that diet can play in the promotion, retardation or amelioration of the cancer process. This has led to the development of dietary guidelines for cancer prevention by health authorities in several Western societies. However, there is still limited information about the sociodemographic determinants of intake of foods and nutrients of interest in many of these countries. A study of the dietary intake of a random sample of residents of the State of Victoria in Australia showed that women, those in the older age groups and in the higher occupational ranks, had diets more in line with current recommendations for cancer prevention--the most marked differences being between men and women. However, the sociodemographic differences were relatively small compared with the low rate of overall compliance with the guidelines.

Intakes and sources of a range of dietary sugars in various Australian populations.

Data from the Apparent Consumption of Foodstuffs publications of the Australian Bureau of Statistics have, until recently, been the major source of information in Australia about the consumption of refined sugars. This database, which relies on national figures for production, importation, export, storage and stocks, and on population statistics, had indicated that some 14% of the total energy that was available in Australia was derived from refined sugars. Similar figures have been derived for both the United States and United Kingdom by means of this kind of national food-availability database. However, a recent reanalysis of a large-scale dietary survey of individuals in the United States has indicated a much lower level of consumption of refined sugars. In recent years, several large-scale surveys of individuals' consumption patterns in the Australian population have been carried out by the Social Nutrition Program at the CSIRO Division of Human Nutrition. These surveys indicate that the mean level of consumption of refined sugars is not as high as that which previously was estimated from Apparent Consumption data. However, there was a wide range of intakes and a substantial proportion of individuals with intakes that were above recommended levels.