Background/Objectives Polyphenols are plant secondary metabolites with a large variability in their chemical structure and dietary occurrence that have been associated with some protective effects against several chronic diseases. To date, limited data exist on intake of polyphenols in populations. The current cross-sectional analysis aimed at estimating dietary intakes of all currently known individual polyphenols and total intake per class and subclass, and to identify their main food sources in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. Methods Dietary data at baseline were collected using a standardized 24-h dietary recall software administered to 36,037 adult subjects. Dietary data were linked with Phenol-Explorer, a database with data on 502 individual polyphenols in 452 foods and data on polyphenol losses due to cooking and food processing. Results Mean total polyphenol intake was the highest in Aarhus-Denmark (1786 mg/day in men and 1626 mg/day in women) and the lowest in Greece (744 mg/day in men and 584 mg/day in women). When dividing the subjects into three regions, the highest intake of total polyphenols was observed in the UK healthconscious group, followed by non-Mediterranean (non-MED) and MED countries. The main polyphenol contributors were phenolic acids (52.5-56.9 %), except in men from MED countries and in the UK health-conscious group where they were flavonoids (49.1-61.7 %). Coffee, tea, and fruits were the most important food sources of total polyphenols. A total of 437 different individual polyphenols were consumed, including 94 consumed at a level [1 mg/day. The most abundant ones were the caffeoylquinic acids and the proanthocyanidin oligomers and polymers. Conclusion This study describes the large number of dietary individual polyphenols consumed and the high variability of their intakes between European populations, particularly between MED and non-MED countries.

Background:Although several studies have investigated the association of the Mediterranean diet with overall mortality or risk of specific cancers, data on overall cancer risk are sparse.Methods:We examined the association between adherence to Mediterranean dietary pattern and overall cancer risk using data from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and nutrition, a multi-centre prospective cohort study including 142 605 men and 335 873. Adherence to Mediterranean diet was examined using a score (range: 0–9) considering the combined intake of fruits and nuts, vegetables, legumes, cereals, lipids, fish, dairy products, meat products, and alcohol. Association with cancer incidence was assessed through Cox regression modelling, controlling for potential confounders.Results:In all, 9669 incident cancers in men and 21 062 in women were identified. A lower overall cancer risk was found among individuals with greater adherence to Mediterranean diet (hazard ratio=0.96, 95% CI 0.95–0.98) for a two-point increment of the Mediterranean diet score. The apparent inverse association was stronger for smoking-related cancers than for cancers not known to be related to tobacco (P (heterogeneity)=0.008). In all, 4.7% of cancers among men and 2.4% in women would be avoided in this population if study subjects had a greater adherence to Mediterranean dietary pattern.Conclusion:Greater adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern could reduce overall cancer risk.

Alcohol consumption may be associated with risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), but the epidemiological evidence for an association with specific anatomical subsites, types of alcoholic beverages and current vs. lifetime alcohol intake is inconsistent. Within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), 478,732 study subjects free of cancer at enrolment between 1992 and 2000 were followed up for an average of 6.2 years, during which 1,833 CRC cases were observed. Detailed information on consumption of alcoholic beverages at baseline (all cases) and during lifetime (1,447 CRC cases, 69% of the cohort) was collected from questionnaires. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the alcohol-CRC association. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, lifetime alcohol intake was significantly positively associated to CRC risk (hazard ratio, HR 5 1.08, 95%CI 5 1.04-1.12 for 15 g/day increase), with higher cancer risks observed in the rectum (HR 5 1.12, 95%CI 5 1.06-1.18) than distal colon (HR 5 1.08, 95%CI 5 1.01-1.16), and proximal colon (HR 5 1.02, 95%CI 5 0.92-1.12). Similar results were observed for baseline alcohol intake. When assessed by alcoholic beverages at baseline, the CRC risk for beer (HR 5 1.38, 95%CIGrant sponsors: ''Europe Against Cancer'' Programme of the European Commission (SANCO); Ligue contre le Cancer (France); Soci et e 3M

This large prospective study found no association between total dairy product intake and diabetes risk. An inverse association of cheese intake and combined fermented dairy product intake with diabetes is suggested, which merits further study.

The effect of multivariate adjustment including folate on the strong protective effect of fiber in foods on colorectal cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition was investigated in 1,721 cases identified in the latest follow-up. The inclusion of an additional 656 cases confirmed our previously published results, with a strong and significant reduction in colorectal cancer risk of f9% for each uncalibrated quintile increase in fiber (P linear trend < 0.001) compared with an 8% reduction in our previous report, which had not been adjusted for folate. Inclusion of the other covariates (physical activity, alcohol, smoking, and red and processed meat) confirmed this significant inverse association for colon cancer and strengthened the association with left-sided colon cancer (P < 0.001). After maximum adjustment, the association between fiber and rectal cancer was not significant, as in our previous analysis. The association with fiber from different food sources was analyzed, but again, there were no significance trends after maximum adjustment. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2005;14(6):1552 -6)