DIETARY-INTAKE OF ENERGY AND ANIMAL FOODS AND ENDOMETRIAL CANCER INCIDENCE - THE IOWA WOMEN HEALTH STUDY

To assess the relations of dietary intake of energy and animal foods t o endometrial cancer risk, dietary analyses were performed using data from a prospective cohort study of over 23,000 postmenopausal lowa wom en who responded to a mailed questionnaire in 1986 and were followed t hrough the end of 1992 for cancer incidence and total mortality. Usual intakes of 127 food items were measured by a semiquantitative food fr equency questionnaire. After 7 years of follow-up, 216 incident endome trial cancer cases had been ascertained, There was no statistically si gnificant association of dietary intake of energy and most animal food s with endometrial cancer incidence over the 7-year follow-up period. Stratified analyses, however, suggested that intake of energy from pla nt foods may be inversely associated with endometrial cancer risk in t he latter years of follow-up (trend test, p = 0.03), while high intake of energy and foods from animal sources related to slightly, but not statistically significantly, elevated risks of this cancer in the earl ier years of follow-up, The only significant dose-response relation ob served in food group analyses was for processed meat and fish, for whi ch a significant 50% excess risk of endometrial cancer was found among women in the highest versus the lowest tertile of intake. This study suggests that dietary intake of energy and most animal foods is not re lated to or is only weakly related to the risk of endometrial cancer a mong postmenopausal US women.