Physical Anthropology in Diet and Cancer Studies

Abstract

I have been working in Nutritional Anthropology since 1975, and at the Department of Family and Community Medicine of the University of Arizona since 1980. My first presentation to the Arizona Cancer Center occurred at a retreat in November, 1983. It was followed by a series of collaborative efforts through 1984, which in turn led to my becoming Program Coordinator for Diet and Cancer in 1985. This position is part of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program, and involves me fo varying degrees in the design and implementation of a wide variety of studies. These include: classic retrospective case control studies exploring diet history in relationship to pre-cancerous conditions; case-control studies of the relationship of current diet to dysplasias; chemo-prevention trials using nutrients, related com pounds, or drugs; and the supporting pilot projects necessary to design protocols for such studies. In addition, some basic pharmaco-kinetic studies are underway on metabolism and side-effects of nutrients or related compounds in healthy volunteers. Such studies provide a useful data base for beginning to understand the metabolism and side-effects of basic food-stuffs. Dietary assessment is an ongoing component in all of these studies because of the general interest in diet and cancer in this unit, and the need to know the true dose of nutrients in the chemo-prevention trials.