European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 19, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Dietary group therapy by Janny Scott los Angeles times a dozen women sat in a Circle in a University of California los Angeles classroom one recent evening hashing out the intricacies of fats a those insidious passengers in five cheese risotto and crime Bro de that May Well be lurking behind the rising rates of certain cancers. They were educated accomplished women. They wore bifocals and blazers badges of professional Middle age. But As the evening wore on the conversation turned confessional they talked about dessert the Way recovering alcoholics talk about a drink. Could you eat pumpkin pie without the crust could you use Mozzarella in Macaroni and cheese and have it not be stringy what to do with that leftover stuffing beckoning from the Freezer anyone know How Many fat Grams reside in a Chicken Fajita pita their monthly version of dietary group therapy is part of a nationwide research project looking into whether women can stick to a Low fat regimen. If they can a larger study has been proposed to explore Over Many years whether a Low fat diet might Cut one s risk of cancer. The outcome of even this first study remains unclear. As the participants Tell it they lurch Between abstinence and overindulgence. But if they succeed in minimizing their fat intake Marilyn Aronson who conducted the Urcla session believes there is much to be gained. Quot diet is not involved in every kind of cancer Quot says Aronson a clinical research nutritionist. Quot but i do believe that there Are a lot of people suffering from cancer who might have been Able to avoid it or at least delay it had they eaten  an estimated one third of All cancer deaths in the United states May be related to the food we eat. That is As Many As perhaps More than can be traced to tobacco. With some 485,000 cancer deaths in the United states each year that Means 160,000 americans will die of cancers traceable to diet. Yet precisely what it is in foods that promotes cancer or protects against it remains unclear. The question is hotly debated. Most researchers agree that alcohol consumption and obesity play a Central role in certain cancers. But beyond that there is Little consensus. Dietary fats Are a prime suspect. They have been linked to cancers of the Colon breast prostate and lining of the uterus. But research on the relationship Between fats and cancer is contradictory and some experts believe the problem May be calories not fats. Fiber too has attracted much attention. Many believe it helps protect against Colon cancer. Again research findings conflict. Sceptics wonder whether to credit the fiber in High fiber diets or simply the diets relative paucity of fats. Then there Are vitamins. Foods Rich in Vitamin c and Vitamin e May inhibit Colon tutors research suggests while those containing Vitamin a and its precursors May protect against cancer of the lung. But Are the vitamins themselves responsible or is it something else in those foods answering these questions is surprisingly difficult. One reason is that few people can recall in detail what they have eaten. Research subjects May remember what they swallowed yesterday or last week but not 15 years ago when perhaps it mattered most. What is More some foods themselves Are not Well understood. Take fiber there Are More than half a dozen types. How much of each Type is in which foods has begun is cancer related to foods we eat resolve Etc that cancer causing product s should be taken off the Market except when people enjoy theme it to have been studied Only recently. And even less is known about How each affects the body. Finally the process leading to cancer remains somewhat mysterious. It can take decades involving factors that Range from environment to genetics. How diet might influence that process a promoting or retarding it a has yet to be fully explained. Nevertheless experts say one thing is certain diet like smoking is one of the few cancer risk factors Over which people have control. So experts have offered Road maps for eating that May help protect against cancer and certainly against other diseases. Those guidelines a set Forth Over the past decade by the National cancer Institute and american cancer society the . Surgeon general the american heart association and the National research Council a stress the following principles a avoid obesity. Drink alcohol Only in moderation. Fats in the diet should account for no More than 30 percent of daily calories. The current american average is 40 percent. A eat More foods High in fiber such As whole Grain cereals fruits and vegetables. The Sci recommends a daily fiber intake of 20 to 30 Grams rather than the current average of 11. A be sure to include Vitamin Rich yellow and dark Green Leafy vegetables red yellow and Orange vegetables and fruits Citrus fruits and juices made from any of those. A limit Salt cured pickled and smoked foods which Many researchers believe raise one s risk of stomach and esophageal cancers. Minimize consumption of grilled or broiled foods that have become charred since charring can produce carcinogens. As some see it our problems Stem in part from the fact that our species evolved on the basis of a different diet than we now eat. For most of existence humans subsisted on a High fiber Low fat diet. Only with industrialization came profound change. According to Leonard a. Cohen an expert on diet and breast cancer at the american health foundation in new York prehistoric people got about 20 percent of their calories from dietary fats. They ate three times the fiber we eat and four times the Vitamin a consuming a diet heavy in grains vegetables and fruits. That pattern prevailed until the Industrial revolution some 2vfc centuries ago. With increasing affluence and changing tastes fat consumption began to climb. Fiber intake dropped consumption of refined sugars went up consumption of Complex carbohydrates Down. Those dietary changes combined with a less Active lifestyle Are believed to have been responsible for the increased size of modern people Cohen says. They also account for the Rise in obesity earlier maturation cardiovascular disease and cancer. Our diet has changed faster it appears than our physiology can adapt. Quot in a sense then modern people Are living in a biological time Warp Quot Cohen wrote in 1987. Quot their Stone age physiology contends daily with a 20th-Century diet to which it is poorly  How exactly might dietary changes influence cancer risk researchers believe that the cancer process has several stages. As Cohen describes it it is triggered by an Initiator such As a Carcinogen or a virus. The initiating agent permanently damages the body a genetic material. A mutation results setting the stage for the possible development of cancer. Later some other agent known As a promoter picks up the process causing the damaged cells to multiply and create a tumor. Some elements in the diet such As fats May be promoters researchers say. Others like vitamins May help derail the process. The most widely studied of those nutrients is fat. Evidence from animal studies in the 1940s first suggested that fats might increase a persons cancer risk. Rodents fed High fat diets in those and subsequent studies proved More Likely than others to develop mammary tutors. Then researchers began noticing International differences people in countries with High fat diets had higher breast cancer rates. And those emigrating from Low fat to High fat countries quickly took on the breast cancer rate of their new Home. One hypothesis goes like this fats influence Levels of hormones such As oestrogen. Oestrogen appears to be important in the development of breast cancer. By raising oestrogen Levels fats in the diet May increase a woman s breast cancer risk. A similar hypothesis exists for prostate cancer which some studies indicate also is influenced by dietary fats. Some researchers suspect that fat promotes prostate cancer by increasing Levels of the hormone testosterone in the blood. 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