Cohort Profile: The Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2)

The Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) began in 2002 with the goal of investigating the role of selected foods to change the risk of cancer. AHS-2 is designed to provide more precise and comprehensive results than previous pioneering research among Seventh-day Adventists1–6, a unique health oriented population with diverse dietary habits. The Adventist church, of 24 million adherents world-wide, promotes a healthy lifestyle. Church members are expected to be non-smokers and non-alcohol users, and are encouraged to eat a vegetarian diet. Many also avoid caffeine-containing beverages. However, adherence to these recommendations is quite variable. Adventists in North America are almost entirely a non-smoking population. The vast majority are non-drinkers and the small number who consume alcohol do so infrequently. But they have a wide diversity in dietary practices. Two previous longitudinal studies in California showed a small percentage are total vegetarians, many follow a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet or eat meat less than once per week (semi-vegetarian) and about half have omnivorous diets similar to the general population.7