DIETARY SURVEY INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT FOR AN ETHNIC MINO

在美国，饮食因素被认为是导致大约三分之一癌症的原因。然而，流行病学研究结果普遍显示，特定营养素与癌症之间存在适度关联，比值比一般在2.0以下。这一现象可能归因于研究人群饮食的同质性。因此，美国人口的多样性为研究不同种族人群中癌症与饮食之间的关系提供了独特的机会。亚裔美国人是美国人口增长最快的族裔。由于这一人群患乳腺癌、结肠直肠癌和前列腺癌的几率较低，而且被认为有不同的饮食习惯，因此进行一项对比不同种族人群饮食和癌症患病率的研究将会提供信息。一个包括东方食品在内的有效、快速的饮食评估工具对于癌症和饮食的流行病学研究至关重要。针对美国普通人群的食物频率调查问卷目前是可用的。然而，它们并没有包括反映东方食品的食品项目。越南人的日常饮食中包含一些非常独特的菜肴。因此，在确定其他食物项目以纳入未来针对美国多元文化人口的饮食评估工具的同时，描述该种族的饮食特征将是具有建设性的。本研究是对居住在新奥尔良大都会地区的越南裔美国人进行人口调查。大约300名研究对象将从越南姓氏的电话列表中随机选择。通过电话访谈随机进行3次24小时膳食召回。通过测定血清生物标志物评估的营养状况也将用于比较。将汇编这些资料，并将专门为这一人口编制一份食物频率调查表。这个新开发的问卷将被分配给50%的研究对象，而另外50%的研究对象将收到在美国广泛使用的食物频率问卷。将对测试结果进行审查，以确定可用于多民族饮食和癌症流行病学研究的最佳调查表。这项研究的结果可能会与正在进行的一项针对同一地理区域主流人群的研究进行比较，以确定饮食中的癌症风险。

Dietary factors are suggested to be responsible for approximately one-third of cancers in the United States. However, results from epidemiological studies generally showed modest associations between specific nutrients and cancer, with odds ratio generally under 2.0. This phenomenon could be attributed to the homogeneity of the diet consumed by the study population. The diversity of the US population thus provides a unique opportunity for epidemiological study of the relationship between cancer and diet in various ethnic groups. Asian Americans constitute the fastest growing ethnic population in the United States. Since this population has lower rates of breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer and is thought to have distinct dietary practices, it would be informative to conduct a study contrasting the diet and cancer prevalence among various ethnic groups. A valid, rapid dietary assessment instrument that includes oriental food items will be crucial for epidemiological studies of cancer and diet. Food frequency questionnaires targeting the general US population are currently available. They, however, do not include food items that would reflect the inclusion of oriental foods. Vietnamese populations include some very unique dishes in their daily consumption. Therefore, it would be constructive to characterize the diet of this ethnic group while identifying other food items for inclusion in future dietary assessment instruments directed toward multicultural US population. This study is to conduct a population-based survey of the Vietnamese-Americans living in the metropolitan New Orleans area. Approximately 300 study subjects will be randomly selected from a telephone list of Vietnamese surnames. Three random-day 24-hour dietary recalls will be conducted through telephone interviews. Nutritional status assessed through the measurement of serum biomarkers will also be used for comparison. The information will be compiled and a food frequency questionnaire will be developed specifically for this population. This newly developed questionnaire will be administered to 50 percent of study subjects, while another 50 percent of the study subject will receive the food frequency questionnaire widely used in the general US. The test results will be examined to determine an optimal questionnaire that may be used in epidemiological studies of diet and cancer on multi-ethnic groups. The results of this study could potentially be compared to an on-going study of the mainstream population in the same geographic area to identify cancer risk in diet.