Food Composition Databases and Cancers

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Food Composition Databases and Cancers

• Presented
• by
• Professor I. O. Akinyele FNSN,FIUNS
• at the
• West African Framework Program For Global Health
• 16th-17th April 2007 Ibadan Oyo state

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Introduction

• Nutrient and food component data constitute a key
  and significant proportion of the body of
  knowledge required to understand the role played
  by the nutrition - environment interaction in
  human health and welfare.
• The current concern in the area of nutrition,
  diet and chronic diseases has stimulated an
  interest in detailed chemical data on foods
• This has subsequently called attention to some
  major deficiencies in the nutrient data bases
  available to support a variety of research
  activities in this field.

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• Studies carried out in various parts of the
  economically developed world showed that the very
  rapid transition to urban-industrial diets and
  lifestyles within Africa, Latin America and Asia
  is followed by a rapid epidemiological
  transition, whereby chronic diseases common in
  the developed countries become much more
  prevalent in developing countries

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Diet and cancer

• As much as 90 percent of all cancer in humans
  have been attributed to environmental factors,
  including diet.
• Dietary modification would have the greatest
  effect on the incidence of the cancers of the
  stomach and large bowel and, to a lesser extent,
  on the cancers of the breast and lung.
• It may not be possible to specify a diet that
  will guarantee that cancer can be completely
  eliminated, as there are other factors involved.

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• Fats have been linked to a number of cancers and
  are especially implicated as a causal factor for
  breast and colon cancer.
• Reduction in the consumption of both saturated
  and unsaturated fats to 30 percent of total
  calories could reduce the risk of developing
  certain cancers
• Many single nutrients may have cancer-inhibiting
  properties which are termed anticarcinogens. They
  include
• antioxidants
• Certain phytochemicals
• Dietary fiber

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• fruits, vegetables, and whole grain cereal
  products in the daily diet contain a wide range
  of these anti carcinogens.
• Phytochemicals from fruits and vegetables in some
  cases block cancer development
• Studies have shown that fruit and vegetable
  intake reduces the risk of nearly all types of
  cancer especially mouth and pharyngeal cancer.
• Foods rich in Vitamin C and beta carotene are
  especially recommended.

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How do food components affect carcinogens?

• Antioxidant activity of vitamins C and E- helps
  to prevent formation of nitrosamines in the
  gastrointestinal tract, thus prevent the
  formation of a potent carcinogen.
• Vitamin E helps protect unsaturated fatty acids
  from damage by free radicals
• Overall, carotenoids, vitamins E and C and
  selenium contribute to the antioxidant systems of
  the body
• These antioxidant systems help prevent the
  alteration of DNAs by electron-seeking compounds
  known as free radicals

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• Essential nutrients shown to inhibit chemically
  induced tumors includes vitamin A (retinol),
  which inhibit carcinoma formation in epithelial
  tissues by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
• Nutrients showing modulatory effects in
  experimental cancer include macronutrients
  (fats, carbohydrates, protein and fibre),
  vitamins (folic acid, riboflavin, ß-carotene,
  retinol, vitamin E and vitamin B12) minerals
  (selenium, zinc, magnesium and calcium)
• Intake of cruciferous vegetables is inversely
  related to the risk of colon cancer
• Recommended intake of vegetables and fruits five
  portions or 400g a day.

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The need for food composition studies

• Food composition data form the basis by which
  intakes, and hence diet-disease relationships,
  are assessed.
• Food composition data are the fundamental
  information by which dietary intake goals can be
  established and achieved.
• Without sufficient quantity and quality of
  compositional datapast, present and futureall
  diet/disease evidence would be insufficient.

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• Food composition databases in Nigeria are limited
  to the following
• FAO 1968-Food Composition Tables for use in
  Africa
• Oyenuga 1968-Nigeria foods and feeding stuff
• Platt 1972-Composition of Nigerian foods
• Oguntona and Akinyele 1995-nutrient composition
  of commonly eaten foods in Nigeria-Raw, Processed
  and Prepared
• These tables do not contain all foods nor all
  nutrients
• Big gaps need to be filled in terms of the foods
  and recipes made from them

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Food composition issues

• Inadequacy of food composition data is, in part
  responsible for the failure to understand some
  relationships between nutrient intakes and health
  or disease and for the difficulties in
  establishing quantitative and qualitative dietary
  guidelines in terms of nutrients.
• Indigenous and traditional food crops and
  cultural eating styles are gradually been
  replaced with processed foods and fast foods
  outlets etc. Urbanization is an important factor
  contributing to the menace of forgetting these
  traditional food crops.
• There is need to identify and document the
  commonly cultivated as well as the wild growing
  indigenous food plants and ascertain their
  composition to determine nutrient value.

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Food composition issues contd.

• Sound food composition databases that are both
  comprehensive and representative of available
  foods are an essential basic tool to develop Food
  based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG).
• Food composition database represent a unique tool
  for assessing nutrient especially energy intakes
• Methodologies in which the collection of food
  samples for analysis represent the first
  critical phase and the calculation of nutritional
  values the second one.
• The absence of some data (missing values)
  represents one of the most important problems
  that must be tackled by those using food
  composition databases

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• The quality of food composition databases must
  always be considered
• The quality of food composition data is
  influenced by the control of variation in food
  constituents,
• The accuracy of description of food items
  including tag names, scientific names and local
  names
• The methods of analysis and the mode of
  expression of the data.

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Uses of information on the nutrient and
non-nutrient composition of foods

• Assessment of the intake of and need for nutrient
  and non-nutrient constituents of foods by
  populations
• Meal planning and calculation of therapeutic
  diets
• Food production and nutrition policies
• The evaluation of food as a vehicle for transfer
  of toxic chemicals from the environment to man.
• Recently, the increasing interest in and concern
  for the relationships between diet and food
  habits and degenerative diseases including
  cancers has stimulated the further gathering of
  composition data on foods.

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Challenges to Food Composition Databases

• Poor collaboration to identify and collate data
  to update the current Food composition database
  in Nigeria
• Lack of priority to Food Composition activities
  in Nigeria
• The Food Basket Foundation International (FBFI)
  an NGO in Nigeria formed the NIGERIAFOODS
  COMPOSITION DATABASE Network in1999 but no
  funding to pursue activities

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• FBFI worked with the Federal Ministry of
  Agriculture and rural development to collate
  recipes based on traditional foods for different
  categories of people in the 6 geopolitical zones
  but no funds to carry out analysis of these
  recipes
• Lack of adequate equipment to carry out certain
  nutrient analysis

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Way forward

• Need to support food composition activities
  within research into diet related diseases
• There is a need for a multidisciplinary approach
  to food composition activities

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• THANK YOU