Dietary exposures being assessed in human populations include consumption of specific food groups and food items, such as meat, fruits and vegetables, ethnic dishes, and coffee; macronutrient and micronutrient intake, such as fat, vitamin A, carotenoids, vitamin C, folacin, and trace minerals; general nutritional status; anthropometry; biochemical indices, such as serum cholesterol and serum Beta-carotene; and storage and cooking practices. Cancers being studied include those of the colon, rectum, breast, lung, cervix, pancreas, stomach and larynx. Case-control studies have been initiated in high risk areas with unusually high site-specific cancer mortality, conceivably related to diet, and among migrants whose changing cancer rates appear related to new life-styles, such as Asian-Americans. Analytic case-control studies of specific cancers have assessed nutrition and diet as possible risk factors, and studies of breast cancer and colorectal cancer that are primarily focused on diet have been developed. Selected cohorts with relevant dietary or biochemical data already collected, such as HANES I participants, are being followed for cancer morbidity and mortality. Data from HANES I are being analyzed to test specific hypotheses, and to provide descriptive information on U.S. dietary patterns, diet variation, and determinants of nutrient intake. Laboratory measures of nutritional status are being incorporated into selected case-control studies.
