Hello friends,

As many of you know, I spend a couple of hours every day, just
browsing journals and reports of new research. Well, today I came
across something that may be of interest to many of you, having to do
with dietary choices.

Here is a link to an abstract of an article arising from research that
indicates that there may be some dangers associated with a surfeit of
choline in the diet. Choline, an essential nutrient in the nature of a
B vitamin, is found in red meat, poultry, and dairy products. Anyway,
the study, just published online today in the Journal of the National
Cancer Institute (Oxford Univ. Press) indicates that there was a
positive association between choline intake and cholorectal cancer
risk. Again, I would note, just as in yesterday's discussions
regarding sodas, association does not necessarily equate to causation,
and in the conclusion, the authors note that there may be other
factors. Also worthy of note about this particular study is that it
involved only women subjects.

Conclusions: Our findings do not support an inverse association
between choline intake and risk of colorectal adenoma. The positive
association between choline intake and colorectal adenoma that we
observed could represent effects of other components in the foods from
which choline was derived and should be investigated further.

http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/djm082

What I get from this is that while there is risk from virtually
everything, we still have to live.... So, it stands to reason that
this is just one more reason to take our nutrition from a well
balanced variety of sources, with moderation, and not from one type of
food, exclusively.

In a section in the abstract entitled "Context and Caveats" the
researchers noted the following:

CONTEXT AND CAVEATS
Prior knowledge

Epidemiologic studies have suggested that lower dietary intake of
folate and methionine and higher intake of alcohol are associated with
an increased risk of colorectal adenoma (polyps in the colon or rectum
that may develop into colorectal cancer). All of these dietary factors
are involved in a biochemical pathway(s) referred to as one-carbon
metabolism. Choline and betaine in the diet also affect one-carbon
metabolism, but their association with the risk of colorectal cancer
was not known.

Study design

Dietary intake of choline and betaine and incidence of colorectal
adenoma were assessed by a questionnaire that was sent to a large
group of female nurses every 2 years, and statistical methods were
used to assess the association between choline intake and the risk of
colorectal adenoma.

Contribution

Increased dietary intake of choline was associated with an elevated
risk of colorectal adenoma. The association with betaine intake was
not clear.

Implications

Additional work will be needed to clarify the relationship between
choline and risk of colorectal adenoma.

Limitations

Other components of the diet, the intakes of which are highly
correlated with choline consumption, may be the source of the
increased risk of colorectal adenoma that was observed.

Will, T2