The NLCS was specifically designed to examine diet in relation to cancer. The cohort study included 58,279 men between the ages of 55 and 69, who completed self-administered questionnaires on their usual diet and other risk factors for cancer. The 642 subjects included in the current study were men with confirmed primary prostate cancer in the 6.3 years after the start of the study in September 1986. In the study, researchers found no evidence of a strong association between prostate cancer risk and energy or fat intake, or intake of a number of specific fatty acids. But there was a suggestion of a positive association for intake of oleic acid and evidence for inverse associations for intake of linoleic acid and linolenic acid.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men and the second most deadly.
The American Cancer Society estimates that 179,300 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 37,000 will die from the disease in 1999. Early stage prostate cancer usually shows no symptoms. Because the disease is highly treatable in the early stages, the American Cancer Society recommends annual screening for men age 50 years and older who have at least a 10-year life expectancy.