Oral bisphosphonate use and breast cancer incidence in postmenopausal women.

Purpose: Emerging clinical evidence suggests intravenous bisphosphonates may inhibit breast cancer while oral bisphosphonates have received limited evaluation regarding breast cancer influence.

Patients And Methods: The association between oral bisphosphonate use and invasive breast cancer was examined in postmenopausal women enrolled onto the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). We compared a published hip fracture prediction model, which did not incorporate bone mineral density (BMD), with total hip BMD in 10,418 WHI participants who had both determinations.

Adolescent diet and subsequent serum hormones, breast density, and bone mineral density in young women: results of the Dietary Intervention Study in Children follow-up study.

Background: Adolescent diet is hypothesized to influence breast cancer risk. We evaluated the long-term effects of an intervention to lower fat intake among adolescent girls on biomarkers that are related to breast cancer risk in adults.

Methods: A follow-up study was conducted on 230 girls who participated in the Dietary Intervention Study in Children (DISC), in which healthy, prepubertal, 8 to 10 year olds were randomly assigned to usual care or to a behavioral intervention that promoted a reduced fat diet.

Dietary fish intake and incident atrial fibrillation (from the Women's Health Initiative).

Experimental and clinical trial data have suggested an association between fish oil intake and atrial fibrillation (AF). However, previous observational studies have reported conflicting results regarding this association. Thus, we sought to compare the association between dietary fish intake and incident AF in a large sample of older, postmenopausal women.

Adolescent attitudes towards tanning: does age matter?

Adolescents seem to be obsessed with tanning. One third of both adolescents and adults report sunbathing. On average, about 20% of adolescents report ever-using of artificial UV tanning devices with 15% currently using them.

Tanning behavior among young frequent tanners is related to attitudes and not lack of knowledge about the dangers.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the importance of tanning among students in relation to attitudes and knowledge regarding skin cancer prevention. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey. SETTING: College students at a major Midwestern university METHODS: Students were recruited to complete a self-administered questionnaire that included information on sun-sensitivity, knowledge and tanning attitudes and behaviors.

Healthy option preferences of rural restaurant customers.

In preparation for an intervention study in three rural Iowa restaurants, 250 customers were surveyed regarding their interest in dietary change, perceptions of the restaurant, and interest in healthy options. Customers were ages 18 to 88, with a mean age of 52, and 53% were women. Most agreed that the restaurant offers healthy meals.

The risk of developing arm lymphedema among breast cancer survivors: a meta-analysis of treatment factors.

Background: As more women survive breast cancer, long-term complications that affect quality of life, such as lymphedema of the arm, gain greater importance. Numerous studies have attempted to identify treatment and prognostic factors for arm lymphedema, yet the magnitude of these associations remains inconsistent.

Methods: A PubMed search was conducted through January 2008 to locate articles on lymphedema and treatment factors after breast cancer diagnosis.

Biomarker-calibrated energy and protein consumption and increased cancer risk among postmenopausal women.

The authors previously reported equations, derived from the Nutrient Biomarker Study within the Women's Health Initiative, that produce calibrated estimates of energy, protein, and percentage of energy from protein consumption from corresponding food frequency questionnaire estimates and data on other factors, such as body mass index, age, and ethnicity. Here, these equations were applied to yield calibrated consumption estimates for 21,711 women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative dietary modification trial comparison group and 59,105 women enrolled in the observational study. These estimates were related prospectively to total and site-specific invasive cancer incidence (1993-2005).

Predictors of adherence in the Women's Health Initiative Calcium and Vitamin D Trial.

The authors analyzed data from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation Trial (CaD) to learn more about factors affecting adherence to clinical trial study pills (both active and placebo). Most participants (36,282 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 years) enrolled in CaD 1 year after joining either a hormone trial or the dietary modification trial of WHI. The WHI researchers measured adherence to study pills by weighing the amount of remaining pills at an annual study visit; adherence was primarily defined as taking > or = 80% of the pills.

Vitamin A and retinol intakes and the risk of fractures among participants of the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study.

Background: Excessive intakes of vitamin A have been shown to have adverse skeletal effects in animals. High vitamin A intake may lead to an increased risk of fracture in humans.

Objective: The objective was to evaluate the relation between total vitamin A and retinol intakes and the risk of incident total and hip fracture in postmenopausal women.

Age group differences in diet and physical activity-related behaviors among rural men and women.

Objectives: Age group variations in dietary intake and physical activity have been noted in large epidemiologic studies. In this study, specific measures of behavioral strategies add depth to our understanding of these variations and can contribute to the design of effective behavioral interventions.

Design: Cross-sectional, behavioral epidemiologic study.

A PDA-based dietary self-monitoring intervention to reduce sodium intake in an in-center hemodialysis patient.

Objective: The purpose of the BalanceWise-hemodialysis study is to determine the efficacy of a dietary intervention to reduce dietary sodium intake in patients receiving maintenance, in-center hemodialysis (HD). Personal digital assistant (PDA)-based dietary self-monitoring is paired with behavioral counseling. The purpose of this report is to present a case study of one participant's progression through the intervention.

Design, feasibility, and acceptability of an intervention using personal digital assistant-based self-monitoring in managing type 2 diabetes.

Background: The information processing demands associated with behavioral self-management of diabetes are extensive. Pairing personal digital assistant (PDA)-based self-monitoring with a behavioral self-management intervention may improve adherence and patient outcomes.

Methods: ENHANCE is a randomized controlled trial to test an intervention designed to improve regimen adherence in adults with type 2 diabetes.

Influence of intervention on beverage choices: trends in the dietary intervention study in children (DISC).

Objective: To compare treatment, sex, and visit differences in beverage choice and calcium intake in the Dietary Intervention Study in Children, to compare the relationship of other beverages to milk consumption, and document whether or not the dietary intervention affected choice of beverage and milk type over time.

Design: Data from the Dietary Intervention Study in Children, a randomized, controlled, multicenter, clinical trial with five sets of three 24-hour recalls.

Subjects: Six hundred fifty-three children from six clinics started the study at age 8 to 10 years.

Diet and sex hormones in boys: findings from the dietary intervention study in children.

Context: Diet reportedly alters serum sex hormone concentrations in adults, but little is known about the influence of diet during puberty on these hormones.

Objective: We aimed to determine whether an intervention to lower fat intake during adolescence alters serum sex hormone concentrations and progression through puberty.

Design: In 1990-1997, we conducted an ancillary study to the Dietary Intervention Study in Children, a multicenter, randomized, controlled clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of a cholesterol-lowering dietary intervention in children.

Stage of change for healthful eating and use of behavioral strategies.

Objective: To examine the distribution of behavioral strategy use across stage of change for healthful eating, and to determine if baseline stage predicts change in use of strategies over 1 year in the absence of intervention.

Design: Cross-sectional assessment and 1-year follow-up with no intervention.

Subjects/setting: Adult men and women in two rural Midwest communities.

Weight management strategies reported by rural men and women in Iowa.

Objective: This study compares the specific behavioral strategies that rural men and women use when trying to lose weight.

Design: A cross-sectional, in-person survey.

Setting: Participants were part of a larger study in rural Iowa (n = 407) intended to identify community health promotion issues.

Development of a glycemic index database for food frequency questionnaires used in epidemiologic studies.

Consumption of foods with a high glycemic index (GI) or glycemic load (GL) is hypothesized to contribute to insulin resistance, which is associated with increased risk of diabetes mellitus, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers. However, dietary assessment of GI and GL is difficult because values are not included in standard food composition databases. Our objective was to develop a database of GI and GL values that could be integrated into an existing dietary database used for the analysis of FFQ.

Low-fat dietary pattern and risk of cardiovascular disease: the Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Dietary Modification Trial.

Context: Multiple epidemiologic studies and some trials have linked diet with cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention, but long-term intervention data are needed.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that a dietary intervention, intended to be low in fat and high in vegetables, fruits, and grains to reduce cancer, would reduce CVD risk.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Randomized controlled trial of 48,835 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79 years, of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities, who participated in the Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial.

Low-fat dietary pattern and risk of colorectal cancer: the Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Dietary Modification Trial.

Context: Observational studies and polyp recurrence trials are not conclusive regarding the effects of a low-fat dietary pattern on risk of colorectal cancer, necessitating a primary prevention trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a low-fat eating pattern on risk of colorectal cancer in postmenopausal women.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial, a randomized controlled trial conducted in 48,835 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79 years recruited between 1993 and 1998 from 40 clinical centers throughout the United States.

Low-fat dietary pattern and weight change over 7 years: the Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial.

Context: Obesity in the United States has increased dramatically during the past several decades. There is debate about optimum calorie balance for prevention of weight gain, and proponents of some low-carbohydrate diet regimens have suggested that the increasing obesity may be attributed, in part, to low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets.

Objectives: To report data on body weight in a long-term, low-fat diet trial for which the primary end points were breast and colorectal cancer and to examine the relationships between weight changes and changes in dietary components.

Raising Medical Students' Awareness of Nutrition and Fitness in Disease Prevention: Nutrition and Fitness Program at the University of Iowa.

At the University of Iowa we devised a learning experience, called the Nutrition and Fitness Program, for third-year medical students. The program was designed to raise awareness of the role of nutrition and exercise in the prevention and treatment of disease. Students spent one afternoon learning about their personal health risk factors, such as body mass index, percent body fat, other anthropometric measures such as waist, hip and mid-arm circumference, blood lipids, bone-mass density, dietary analysis, and fitness assessment.

Problems with the assessment of dietary fat in prostate cancer studies.

The authors conducted a detailed review of studies on the association between prostate cancer and total dietary fat along with specific fatty acids. Overall, the 29 studies reporting actual dietary fat levels in grams of fat were heterogeneous, suggesting that pooling of the relative risks may be inappropriate. Heterogeneity was also seen by study design.

Adolescents eating diets rich in either lean beef or lean poultry and fish reduced fat and saturated fat intake and those eating beef maintained serum ferritin status.

Reducing red meat intake to lower serum cholesterol may also lower iron and zinc intake. Eighty-six seventh and eighth graders who enrolled in a study comparing serum ferritin, zinc, and cholesterol levels were randomized to a low-fat eating pattern emphasizing either lean beef or lean poultry and fish. Serum data and three 24-hour recalls were collected at baseline and 3 months.