Field Notes

Women With PCOS Have Family Heart Disease Link

A new study from the University of Adelaide shows the parents of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are more likely to have some form of cardiovascular disease.

PCOS is a hormonal disorder affecting about 10% of women of reproductive age. It’s one of the most common endocrine disorders in women and a leading cause of infertility.

The study shows mothers of women with PCOS are more likely to have any form of cardiovascular disease, and almost twice as likely to have high blood pressure, than mothers of other women.

Fathers of women with PCOS are more than twice as likely to have heart disease, and more than four times as likely to have a stroke, than fathers of other women.

The study involved taking family medical histories from more than 700 women born at Adelaide’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital between 1973 and 1975. The results of the study were published in the online journal PLoS ONE.

“Our results show there is a strong link between cardiovascular disease in both mother and father and the risk of polycystic ovary syndrome in their daughters,” says Michael Davies, an associate professor at the University of Adelaide’s Robinson Institute and the lead study author.

“It suggests that PCOS may be the consequence of a family susceptibility to chronic disease. Further research into the association between the child and parent is therefore needed,” he says. “In Australia alone, about 500,000 women are affected by PCOS. While it’s a leading cause of infertility, PCOS also carries with it a wide range of other, serious health complications. By further understanding the link between PCOS and other family medical conditions, we might be able to diagnose and treat all of these illnesses at an earlier stage.”

— Source: University of Adelaide

Fruits, Vegetables Reduce Risks of Specific Types of Colorectal Cancers

The effects of fruit and vegetable consumption on colorectal cancer (CRC) appear to differ by site of origin, according to a new study published in the October issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Researchers found that within the proximal and distal colon, brassica vegetables (eg, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli) were associated with a decreased risk of these cancers. A lower risk of distal colon cancer was associated with eating more apples; however, an increased risk of rectal cancer was found with an increasing consumption of fruit juice.

“Fruits and vegetables have been examined extensively in nutritional research in relation to CRC; however, their protective effect has been subject to debate, possibly because of different effects on different subsites of the large bowel,” says lead investigator Lin Fritschi, PhD, head of the Epidemiology Group at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research in Perth. “It may be that some of the confusion about the relationship between diet and cancer risk is due to the fact that previous studies did not take site of the CRC into account. The replication of these findings in large prospective studies may help determine whether a higher intake of vegetables is a means for reducing the risk of distal CRC.”

Researchers from the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research, University of Western Australia, and Deakin University investigated the link between fruit and vegetables and three cancers in different parts of the bowel: proximal colon cancer, distal colon cancer, and rectal cancer. The case-control study included 918 participants with a confirmed CRC diagnosis and 1,021 control participants with no history of CRC. The subjects completed extensive medical and nutritional questionnaires and were assigned a socioeconomic status based on their home address.

The consumption of brassica vegetables was associated with a reduced incidence of proximal colon cancer. For distal colon cancer, both total fruit and vegetable intake and total vegetable intake appeared to decrease risk. Distal colon cancer risk was significantly decreased in association with an intake of dark yellow vegetables and apples, although there was an increased risk of rectal cancer with the consumption of fruit juice. The risk of proximal colon cancer and rectal cancer was not associated with total intakes of fruit and vegetable, vegetable, or fruit.

Previous studies on CRC often have failed to distinguish between the different sites of cancer origin in the large bowel, even though it’s now well established that tumors in the proximal colon develop along different pathways to those of the distal colon and rectum and that the risk of cancer varies by subsite within the colorectum. The mechanisms for different effects of dietary components on different sites of the large bowel haven’t yet been determined.

The authors concluded that "from a public health point of view, it’s easier to translate food-based analyses into dietary recommendations rather than using the intake of single nutrients.”

— Source: American Dietetic Association