title: Vegetarian diets and the incidence of cancer in a low-risk population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. Dietary factors account for at least 30% of all cancers in Western countries. As people do not consume individual foods but rather combinations of them, the assessment of dietary patterns may offer valuable information when determining associations between diet and cancer risk.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the association between dietary patterns (non-vegetarians, lacto, pesco, vegan, and semi-vegetarian) and the overall cancer incidence among 69,120 participants of the Adventist Health Study-2. Cancer cases were identified by matching to cancer registries. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was conducted to estimate hazard ratios, with "attained age" as the time variable.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 2,939 incident cancer cases were identified. The multivariate HR of overall cancer risk among vegetarians compared with non-vegetarians was statistically significant [HR, 0.92; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.85-0.99] for both genders combined. Also, a statistically significant association was found between vegetarian diet and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract (HR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.63-0.90). When analyzing the association of specific vegetarian dietary patterns, vegan diets showed statistically significant protection for overall cancer incidence (HR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.72-0.99) in both genders combined and for female-specific cancers (HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.47-0.92). Lacto-ovo-vegetarians appeared to be associated with decreased risk of cancers of the gastrointestinal system (HR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.60-0.92).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vegetarian diets seem to confer protection against cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vegan diet seems to confer lower risk for overall and female-specific cancer than other dietary patterns. The lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets seem to confer protection from cancers of the gastrointestinal tract.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Loma Linda University, School of Public Health, Loma Linda, CA 92350, USA. ytantamango@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Yessenia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tantamango-Bartley
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jaceldo-Siegl
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fraser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014676:Diet, Vegetarian; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000009:adverse effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology