Daily Variety of Fruits & Vegetables May Slash Lung Cancer Risk

Previous research has shown the influence of the quantity of fruits and vegetables on cancer development.  H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, from The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (The Netherlands), and colleagues have completed a unique study that evaluated the diversity of fruit and vegetable consumption, rather than quantity, in reducing cancer risk.  Using data collected in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, the tea, evaluated 452,187 participants, obtaining information was on 14 commonly eaten fruits and 26 commonly eaten vegetables. Regardless of the amount, the researchers 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. Positing that fruits and vegetables contain many different bioactive compounds, and that by consuming a daily variety of fruits and vegetable we can ingest a rich mix of these bioactive compounds, the team concludes that: “Independent from quantity of consumption, variety in fruit and vegetable consumption may decrease lung cancer risk.”