Plant-based Diets and Risk of Cancer in the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2)

January 28, 2026 updated by: Loma Linda University

Cancer Epidemiology in Seventh-day Adventists

The Adventist Health Study-2 is a long-term study, exploring the links between lifestyle, diet, and disease outcomes among Seventh-day Adventists. More than 96,000 church members from the U.S. and Canada are participating in the current study, AHS-2, conducted by researchers at the Loma Linda University School of Public Health.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Detailed Description

The Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) is a large national cohort of 96,000 Seventh-day Adventists in the U.S. and Canada. The study is searching for associations between diet and risk of common and medium frequency cancers (breast, prostate, colorectal, lung, uterus, pancreas, melanoma of skin). This cohort is unusual in that about half are vegetarian, many eat soy at Asian levels, and many have very low or absent dairy intake while others eat normal amounts of dairy. Thus observations on these people, many of whom have contrasting dietary habits, may provide insights about diet and cancer, so supporting dietary changes that could be readily adopted by many.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

96000

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Loma Linda, California, United States, 92350
        • Loma Linda University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

26 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The sample includes Seventh-day Adventist church members living in the USA and Canada who are 30 years and older, and who are sufficiently fluent in English to complete the lengthy lifestyle questionnaire. The study population is about 65% female. Approximately 25% of the cohort are Black/African Americans . Other ethnic minorities (e.g. Asian, Hispanic) are at much lower percentages (3-4 %).

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Member of a Seventh-day Adventist church >30 years of age Ability to read English Live in the US or Canada

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Less than 30 years of age
  • Church members who did not complete the baseline questionnaire.
  • Incarcerated or institutionalized people
  • Non-English speakers

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Observational Models: Cohort
  • Time Perspectives: Prospective

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Seventh-day Adventists
This is a prospective cohort study of 96,000 members of the Seventh-day Adventists Church in the United States and Canada age 30 and older at the time of enrollment who are proficient in English language.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Incident cases of breast cancer among subjects with documented dietary habits.
Time Frame: Linkage with state cancer registries occurs periodically for 9 years, with first linkage at year 04 of study enrolment.
Incident cases of breast cancer as found by linkage with state cancer registries will allow calculation of hazard ratios comparing extreme quintiles of dietary intakes. The focus is on meats, soy, and dairy intakes.
Linkage with state cancer registries occurs periodically for 9 years, with first linkage at year 04 of study enrolment.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Incident cases of prostate cancer among subjects with documented dietary intakes.
Time Frame: Linkage with state cancer registries occurs periodically for 9 years, with first linkage at year 04 of study enrolment.
Incident cases of prostate cancer as found by linkage with state cancer registries will allow calculation of hazard ratios comparing extreme quintiles of dietary intakes. The focus is on meats, soy, and dairy intakes.
Linkage with state cancer registries occurs periodically for 9 years, with first linkage at year 04 of study enrolment.

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Incident cases of colorectal cancer among subjects with documented dietary habits.
Time Frame: Linkage with state cancer registries occurs periodically for 9 years, with first linkage at year 04 of study enrolment.
Incident cases of colorectal cancer as found by linkage with state cancer registries will allow calculation of hazard ratios comparing extreme quintiles of dietary intakes. The focus is on meats, soy, and dairy intakes.
Linkage with state cancer registries occurs periodically for 9 years, with first linkage at year 04 of study enrolment.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Loma Linda University

Collaborators

National Cancer Institute (NCI)
World Cancer Research Fund International
Ardmore Institute of Health

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Gary E Fraser, MD,PhD, Loma Linda University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 1, 2002

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2013

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 29, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 30, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

August 6, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 30, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 28, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 48134
  • U01CA152939 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • R01CA094594 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Researchers must write a proposal describing how the data will be used and submit it to the Adventist Health Study data sharing committee for approval.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

on-going

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Data access will be given upon approval of proposal by the AHS-2 Review Committee.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF
  • ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Cancer, Breast

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Armenia

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe