Breast Cancer Statistics
"Cancer mortality statistics in 33
countries of the world were compiled and calculated from
data edited from a magnetic tape copy of the World Health
Organization (WHO) data base of cancer mortality."
(1.)
Using this, I checked for correlations between female
breast cancer mortality rates in the 30 countries for
which data was available, and food and environmental
factors collected from various other sources (2, 3, 4).
The highest correlation (R=.79, p much less than .01) was
between breast cancer and animal source Calorie
consumption (see graph below).
There was a lower but still significant
correlation between breast cancer mortality and milk
consumption (R=.55, p=.001). This would support the
hypothesis (5.) that estrogens and insulin-like growth
factor (IGF-I) in cow's milk stimulate breast cancer.
(see graph below)
Multiple regression analysis showed some
additional correlations. The larger the correlation
coefficient (R), and the smaller the p value (which must
be less than .05 to be significant), the greater the
likelihood that the correlation is of a causal nature.
Negative R values indicate an inverse relationship (e.g.
the more vegetable source protein consumption, the lower
the risk of breast cancer).
Multiple regression
by BMDP (5.):
| Variable |
Partial_R |
p
value |
| animal source calories/day |
0.7897 |
1.3E-07 |
| Animal fat/day (gm) |
0.7807 |
2.1E-07 |
| Total fat/day (gm) |
0.7767 |
2.1E-07 |
| Animal protein (gm/day) |
0.7029 |
1.0E-05 |
| Meat Kg/caput/year |
0.6937 |
1.5E-05 |
| Animal source calcium (mg/day) |
0.6401 |
0.0001 |
| Total Calories/day |
0.6071 |
0.0003 |
| Milk production (lbs/caput/day) |
0.5521 |
0.0013 |
| Total protein (gm/day) |
0.533 |
0.002 |
| GNP/cap($) |
0.5268 |
0.0023 |
| Female life expectancy (years) |
0.4661 |
0.0082 |
| Hen eggs (lbs/caput/day) |
0.353 |
0.0514 |
| Vegetable source calcium (mg/day) |
-0.1682 |
0.3657 |
| Vegetable source Calories/day |
-0.2864 |
0.1182 |
| Vegetable source protein (gm/day) |
-0.3607 |
0.0462 |
| Infant mortality |
-0.4123 |
0.0212 |
William Harris, M.D.
Medical Director
Kaiser-Permanente Vegan Lifestyle Clinic (VLC)
1010 Pensacola Street
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 597-2100 (W)
vegidoc@compuserve.com
REFERENCES
(1.) Tominaga S., Aoki K, Fujimoto I, Kurihara M. Cancer
Mortality and Morbidity Statistics, Japan and the
World-1994.
Japan Scientific Societies Press. CRC Press. 2000
Corporate Blvd., N.W. Boca Raton Fl 33431. ISBN
0-8493-7748-X
(2.)Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations. FAO Production Yearbook. Rome, 1987.
(3.) Kurian, George Thomas. The Book of World Rankings.
Facts on File Inc.119 West 57th St. New York, N.Y. 10019.
1979. ISBN 0-87196-394-9
(4.) Kurian, George Thomas. The New Book of World
Rankings. Facts on File Inc.460 Park Ave. So. New York,
N.Y.
10016. 1991. ISBN 0-8160-1931-2.
(5.) Dairy products and breast cancer: the IGF-I,
estrogen, and bGH hypothesis. Outwater JL; Nicholson A;
Barnard N. Med
Hypotheses (ENGLAND) Jun 1997, 48 (6) p453-61, ISSN
0306-9877.
(6.) BMDP Statistical Software. BMDP New System for
Windows. Los Angeles, 1994. ISBN 0-935386-30-0.
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