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Largest-Ever
Adventist Health Study to Explore Diet, Cancer Link
Loma Linda, California, USA .... [Ansel Oliver/ANN]
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The relationship between diet and cancer among Seventh-day Adventists will be
the focus of the largest-ever health study to be conducted by Loma Linda
University's school of public health. The university, located in southern
California, United States, has secured a grant from the National Institutes of
Health for the study, which will concentrate on cancers of the breast, colon,
and prostate.
Dr. Gary Fraser, director of the university's Center for Health Research, will
look at many factors, including soy, calcium, and meat consumption. He notes
that earlier studies have demonstrated evidence of a correlation between meat
consumption and colon cancer.
The study, which requires the participation of 125,000 Adventist Church members,
will be the first to compare rates of cancer among Adventists, rather than
between Adventists and a control group made up of other members of the
community. It will also attempt to target some 45,000 Black Adventists. The
Black community experiences almost twice the average rates of prostate cancer,
as well as higher rates of colon cancer, says Fraser.
Participants in the study will be found on a church-by-church basis during a
four-year enrollment period, explains Fraser. Preparation for enrollment has
already started and church members across the United States will be contacted
starting in January 2002.
Dr. Allan Handysides, director of health ministries for the Adventist world
church, believes the study holds exciting possibilities. "Within Adventism,
there are subsets with slight variations in lifestyle," explains Handysides.
"By comparing these groups, we'll be able to more precisely identify
factors that contribute to a healthy, disease-free life."
"This is a significant study," adds Handysides. "The number of
Adventists around the world is growing, and in the area of healthy lifestyle, we
are a showcase to the world."
He encourages local church pastors and members to get involved when they are
approached to participate in the study.
Over the past three decades, Loma Linda University's Center for Health Research
has conducted groundbreaking research into the impact of many Adventist health
practices. In July this year, Fraser announced the results of one 12-year study
showing that the lifestyle habits practiced by many Adventists contribute to a
longer-than-average life.
Loma Linda University and Medical Center, Adventist facilities established in
1905, are internationally known for developing new treatments in areas including
heart transplant surgery and non-invasive proton beam therapy for prostate and
breast cancer.
Study
Links Adventist Lifestyle With Longevity
Loma Linda, California, USA .... [Bettina Krause/ANN]
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Lifestyle habits practiced by many Seventh-day Adventists contribute to a
longer-than-average life expectancy, according to results released last week
from a 12-year study of 34,000 Adventists in California. This group of
Adventists appears to be the longest-lived population that has ever been studied
and described in a formal way, says Dr. Gary E. Fraser, the study's principal
researcher, and director of the Loma Linda University Center for Health
Research.
The study focused on five lifestyle factors, tracking whether individuals
engaged in regular exercise, were vegetarian, had a history of smoking,
maintained a healthy body weight, or ate a small serving of nuts five to six
times a week. Researchers studied the impact on longevity of each of these
habits, both separately and in combination.
"Even though we knew that Adventists live longer, we'd never really dug any
deeper and asked, 'What are the important characteristics of being an Adventist
that seem to account for that?'" explains Fraser. Although the five habits
tracked in the study are not the only important aspects of a healthy lifestyle,
says Fraser, "they were the factors that came out as being statistically
significant predictors of mortality."
Researchers discovered that the life expectancy of a 30-year-old vegetarian
Adventist woman was 85.7 years, and 83.3 years for a vegetarian Adventist man.
This exceeds the life expectancies of other Californians by 6.1 years for women
and 9.5 years for men. Non-vegetarian Adventist women in the group had a life
expectancy of 84 years, and non-vegetarian men, 81 years.
While health experts have long preached the benefits of a healthy diet and
regular exercise, this study is the first to actually identify the number of
years of life added by specific health practices. The results show that the
effect of each factor separately accounted for between 1.25 and 2.75 extra years
of life, with exercise and nut consumption producing the slightly stronger
effects.
On the other hand, life expectancy dropped nine to 10 years for Adventists who
were overweight, past smokers, and non-vegetarian, and who did not exercise or
eat nuts regularly.
But the study also holds out hope for people whose current lifestyle is less
than healthy. "Individuals who make multiple and modest changes in their
lifestyle stand to gain a lot," says Fraser. "By making some choices
in how you live you can probably gain a number of years." Even one or two
changes can positively impact life expectancy, he says.
Data for the study was gathered between 1976 and 1988 and the results were
published in the July 9, 2001 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Loma
Linda University Medical Center, an Adventist facility located in southern
California, is internationally known for its research and treatments in areas
including heart transplant surgery and non-invasive proton beam therapy for
prostate and breast cancer.
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Copyright (C) 2000 by Adventist News Network.
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