The CancerWeb Report, What's New In Cancer: June, 1996
Endometrial Cancer

• Relationship of endometrial cancer to diet - Although endometrial cancer shows an association with obesity, and the international variation in incidence of this cancer is compatible with diet being a significant factor, study results have been inconclusive regarding the role of any particular dietary component. A hospital-based case-control study of 145 endometrial cancer cases and 298 controls with orthopedic diseases, carried out in Greece over a 27-month period between 1992 and 1994, shed only a little more light on the matter. No macronutrient showed a significant relationship to risk of disease, but increasing intake of mono- unsaturated fat, principally olive oil, by one standard deviation, showed a 26% risk reduction. Only calcium intake among the micronutrients showed a significant inverse relation to diseases risk. There was weak evidence of a protective effect of vegetables, and of an increased risk at higher legume intake, the principal cause of excess energy intake and obesity in Greece. (Tzonou, British J Cancer 73:1284, 1996)