What Have We Learned From the Nurses’ Health Study? Lots!

If you haven’t read the column just before this one, go back and do so. If you have read it, you know about the Nurses’ Health Study I, II and III, but you might be wondering what researchers have learned, thanks to the 238,000 nurses who have faithfully continued to fill out questionnaires and send in tissue samples for more than three decades. Here’s an amazing associated fact: Because of the vast quantity of information gathered from the studies, more than 100 papers were published in 2005 alone. This research helped create national guidelines on weight, diet and exercise. For instance, our national food policy has been transformed because Nurses’ Study researchers learned that the association between weight gain and fat consumption was much stronger with trans fat than with other types of fat. Some people may complain about this, but when you look at the research, there is every reason to ban trans fats, especially when there are substitutes that work just as well in the taste and consistency categories. Evidence from the Nurses’ Study also has helped scientists and nutritionists understand the role of vitamin D in cancer. Although more research is necessary, experts are leaning heavily toward concluding that many people get inadequate amounts of vitamin D, and that prolonged low levels of vitamin D predispose to developing cancer. Researchers say that getting an adequate amount of this vitamin from food is difficult, and that supplements are recommended. Now here’s a scary finding: Nurses who worked rotating night shifts for many years had a 35 percent greater risk of developing colorectal cancer and a 47 percent greater risk of developing endometrial cancer. Another finding: Women who used estrogen plus testosterone were about twice as likely to develop breast cancer as those who had never used postmenopausal hormones. A couple more findings: A high consumption of certain omega-3 fatty acids is associated with a lower risk of cataracts; and high insulin levels – the result of insulin resistance – is associated with greater memory problems, even in women who don’t have type 2 diabetes. I could go on and on, but you get the picture; the Nurses’ Health Study has provided invaluable information about the health of women, who until the study began, were woefully absent in most research.

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What Have We Learned From the Nurses' Health Study? Lots!

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