Clinical Study Title:
The influence of folate and multivitamin use on the familial risk of colon cancer in women.

Plain English Summary:

Various factors are known to affect the risk of certain types of cancer. Among the risks for colon cancer include things such as folate intake, family history, and alcohol consumption. For people who have multiple risk factors, the risk of contracting colon cancer is much greater. This study followed over 88,000 women with a family history of colon cancer. This research study found that for women with a family history, high levels of methionine were linked to a reduction in risk. An increase in alcohol intake will increase the risk of colon cancer in women with a family history. Those women who used a daily multivitamin also had a decrease in risk. This suggests that women with a family history of colon cancer may reduce their risk of cancer by increasing methionine, avoiding heavy consumption of alcohol, and by using a daily multivitamin which contains folic acid.

Authors

Fuchs CS. Willett WC. Colditz GA. Hunter DJ. Stampfer MJ. Speizer FE. Giovannucci EL.

Institution

Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.

Country of Publication

United States

Source

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. 11(3):227-34, 2002 Mar.