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ObjectiveTo study the association between consumption of dairy products and calcium intake and risk of breast cancer risk according to menopausal status.MethodsIn a population-based prospective cohort study of 64,904 Norwegian women followed from 1996/1999 through 2006, we examined total dairy consumption and consumption of various dairy products in relation to pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer risk. We also examined breast cancer in relation to calcium intake and to milk consumption during childhood and performed additional analyses corrected for measurement errors in the dietary data. In total, 218 premenopausal and 1,189 postmenopausal incident breast cancer cases were diagnosed during follow-up.ResultsTotal dairy, adult, and childhood milk consumption was not associated with either pre- or postmenopausal breast cancer risk. Premenopausal women with the highest consumption of white cheese had half the risk of breast cancer compared to those with the lowest consumption (hazard rate ratio in the 4th quartile vs. the 1st quartile 0.50, 95% confidence interval 0.29–0.87). Total calcium intake tended to be inversely related to premenopausal (hazard rate ratio in the 4th quartile vs. the 1st quartile 0.65, 95% confidence interval 0.39–1.08) and postmenopausal breast cancer (hazard rate ratio in the 4th quartile vs. the 1st quartile 0.85, 95% confidence interval 0.70–1.04). Correcting for measurement errors did not alter the results substantially, nor did exclusion of early cancer cases.ConclusionDairy consumption is not strongly related to breast cancer risk in this prospective study. A non-significant negative association between calcium intake and breast cancer risk was seen, particularly among premenopausal women.

Background: In a recent US cohort study, total coffee and tea consumption was inversely associated with risk of glioma, and experimental studies showed that caffeine can slow the invasive growth of glioblastoma. Objective: The objective was to examine the relation between coffee and tea intake and the risk of glioma and meningioma in a large European cohort study, the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Design: Data on coffee and tea intake were collected from men and women recruited into the EPIC cohort study. Over an average of 8.5 y of follow-up, 343 cases of glioma and 245 cases of meningioma were newly diagnosed in 9 countries. We used Cox proportional hazards models to examine the relation between coffee and tea and brain tumors. Results: We observed no associations between coffee, tea, or combined coffee and tea consumption and risk of either type of brain tumor when using quantiles based on country-specific distributions of intake. However, a significant inverse association was observed for glioma risk among those consuming 100 mL coffee and tea per day compared with those consuming ,100 mL/d (hazard ratio: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.44, 0.97; P = 0.03). The association was slightly stronger in men (hazard ratio: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.34, 1.01) than in women (hazard ratio: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.42, 1.31), although neither was statistically significant. Conclusions: In this large cohort study, we observed an inverse association between total coffee and tea consumption and risk of glioma that was consistent with the findings of a recent study. These findings, if further replicated in other studies, may provide new avenues of research on gliomas.

Current curriculum guidelines emphasise the importance of both nutrition education and the development of practical cooking skills in the school subject Food and Health (FH). This study aimed to explore teachers' and students' perspectives and experiences of current classroom practices in FH. Focus group discussions (FGDs) with teachers and students at three schools in Southern Norway were conducted and thematically analysed. Our findings suggest there is a mismatch between curriculum guidelines and teaching practices. Although teachers understood the benefits of nutrition education, practical cooking activities were prioritised. Three key themes were identified; students and teachers value cooking and limited time, which both explain this mismatch from the perspectives of students and teachers, and pedagogical solutions to resolve the mismatch, which summarises novel learning activities suggested by students and teachers as a solution for this mismatch. There needs to be a focus on comprehensive nutrition education in FH classes, to improve its pedagogical implications and meet the demands of the curriculum. These findings can be used to inform educators and policymakers on how to strengthen nutrition education in FH.

Portion size images are advantageous in dietary assessment. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate new culturally specific image-series for portion size estimation to be used in a new Norwegian version of a British web-based dietary assessment tool (myfood24). Twenty-three image-series of different foods, each containing seven portion size images, were created and validated in a group of adults (n 41, 58 % female) aged 19–44 (median 23), out of which 63 % had higher (tertiary) education. The participants compared 46 portions of pre-weighed foods to the portion size images (1886 comparisons in total). Portion size estimations were either classified as correct, adjacent or misclassified. The weight discrepancy in percentage between the chosen and the correct portion size image was also calculated. Mann–Whitney U tests were used to explore if portion size estimation accuracy differed across sample characteristics, or if it depended on how the foods were presented. For thirty-eight of the forty-six presented food items, the participants selected the correct or adjacent portion size image 98 % on average. The remaining eight food items were on average misclassified by 27 % of the participants. Overall, a mean weight discrepancy of 2⋅5 % was observed between the chosen and the correct portion size images. Females estimated portion size more accurately than males (P = 0⋅019). No other significant differences in estimation accuracy were observed. In conclusion, the new image-series performed satisfactorily, except for the image-series depicting bread, caviar spread and marzipan cake, which will be altered. The present study demonstrates the importance of validating portion size estimation tools.