Eating fruits and veggies may cut lung cancer risk

WASHINGTON - A diverse diet of fruits and vegetables may decrease the risk of lung cancer - especially if you smoke, says a new study.

“Although quitting smoking is the most important preventive action in reducing lung cancer risk, consuming a mix of different types of fruit and vegetables may also reduce risk, independent of the amount, especially among smokers,” said H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, senior scientist and project director of cancer epidemiology at The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, The Netherlands.

Using information from the ongoing, multi-centered European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, Bueno-de-Mesquita and colleagues evaluated 452,187 participants with complete information, 1,613 of whom were diagnosed with lung cancer.

Information was obtained on 14 commonly eaten fruits and 26 commonly eaten vegetables. The fruits and vegetables evaluated in the EPIC study consisted of a wide variety of fresh, canned or dried products.

Previous results from the EPIC study showed that the quantity of vegetables and fruits may decrease risk of lung cancer; in particular the risk of one specific type of lung cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, decreased in current smokers.

Regardless of the amount, the researchers on the current study found that risk of lung cancer also decreased when a variety of vegetables were consumed. In addition, the risk of squamous cell carcinoma decreased substantially when a variety of fruits and vegetables were eaten.

However, Bueno-de-Mesquita said that they “cannot exclude that these results can still be explained by smoking.”

“Fruits and vegetables contain many different bioactive compounds, and it makes sense to assume that it is important that you not only eat the recommended amounts, but also consume a rich mix of these bioactive compounds by consuming a large variety,” he said.

Study results are published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. (ANI)