Plant-based Diets and Risk of Cancer in the Adventist Health Study-2

Cancer Epidemiology in Seventh-day Adventists

The Adventist Health Study-2 is a long-term study, exploring the links between lifestyle, diet, and disease outcomes among Seventh-day Adventists. More than 96,000 church members from the U.S. and Canada are participating in the current study, AHS-2, conducted by researchers at the Loma Linda University School of Public Health.

The Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) is a large national cohort of 96,000 Seventh-day Adventists in the U.S. and Canada. The study is searching for associations between diet and risk of common and medium frequency cancers (breast, prostate, colorectal, lung, uterus, pancreas, melanoma of skin). This cohort is unusual in that about half are vegetarian, many eat soy at Asian levels, and many have very low or absent dairy intake while others eat normal amounts of dairy. Thus observations on these people, many of whom have contrasting dietary habits, may provide insights about diet and cancer, so supporting dietary changes that could be readily adopted by many.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Member of a Seventh-day Adventist church >30 years of age Ability to read English Live in the US or Canada

Exclusion Criteria:

• Less than 30 years of age
• Church members who did not complete the baseline questionnaire.
• Incarcerated or institutionalized people
• Non-English speakers