DIETARY MINERAL ASSESSMENT IN CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY

THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL SATISFY THE INCREASINGLY PRESSING NEED FOR DIETARY MINERAL ASSESSMENTS, ESPECIALLY AS RELATED TO CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY, BY ESTABLISHING A NEW ANALYTICAL METHOD FOR LOW-COST, NONDESTRUCTIVE MULTIELEMENT ANALYSIS OF SOLID AND LIQUID FOODS. SPECIFIC AIMS AND EXPECTED RESULTS OF THE PROPOSED FEASIBILITY RESEARCH ARE: VALIDATION OF THE NEW METHOD FOR X-RAY FLUORESCENCE (XRF) ANALYSIS OF FOODS, MEASUREMENT OF FEASIBILITY FOR WIDESPREAD APPLICATIONS TO HEALTH-RELATED ANALYSES, AND DEFINITION OF NEW MINERAL DATA TO DIRECTLY SUPPORT CURRENT NCI EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF COLI-RECTAL CANCER IN UTAH. THE NEW TECHNIQUE WILL UTILIZE OUR ESTABLISHED MATHEMATICAL METHOD TO AUTOMATICALLY COMPUTE SAMPLE-SPECIFIC CALIBRATIONS USING FLUORESCENT X-RAY INTENSITIES, BACKSCATTER INTENSITIES, AND FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS PARAMETERS. THE METHOD ELIMINATES TRADITIONAL NEEDS FOR CALIBRATION AND SAMPLE PREPARATION TO OBVIATE MATRIX EFFECTS, THEREBY EXPLOITING THE ADVANTAGES OF RAPID, LOW-COST, MULTIELEMENT XRF ANALYSIS WITH THE ACCURACY AND DEPENDABILITY REQUIRED FOR FOOD ANALYSIS. THE VALIDATION, FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT AND MEASUREMENTS OF DATA QUALITY WILL ALLOW PREDICTION OF THE FEASIBILITY AND EXPECTED RESULTS OF AN EXPANDED PHASE II STUDY TO FILL THE PRESENT MINERAL DATA NEEDS AND ALSO FOR WIDESPREAD COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS IN INDUSTRIAL FOOD TESTING, PROCESSING, QUALITY CONTROL, AND REGULATORY AND LABELLING NEEDS.