Diet and Ovarian Cancer

To the Editor.— I would like to report the results of some preliminary analyses relating diet to the risk of fatal ovarian cancer. These findings are from a population of 16,190 white California Seventh-Day Adventists women who completed a dietary questionnaire in 1960.1Relationships were examined between 22 dietary variables measured by the questionnaire and subsequent risk of death due to ovarian cancer during 1960 to 1980. There were 50 deaths due to ovarian cancer identified during this time period. Age-adjusted risk ratios (and 95% confidence limits [CL]) were calculated for person-year data by the method described by Rothman and Boice.2Prior to the analyses, consumption categories for each food were defined. The strongest and most consistent relationships between diet and risk were observed for egg and fried food consumption. Women who ate eggs (ie, fried or nonfried) three or more days each week had a three times