Variety in Diet can Prevent Lung Cancer

A new study published in the August 31 online edition of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention has found that eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, rather than quantity, may lower your lung cancer risk.
“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,” explained H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, MD, MPH, PhD, senior scientist and project director of cancer epidemiology at The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands.
The collaborative European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study found 1,613 out of 452,187 Europeans developed lung cancer during nearly nine years of follow-up.
The authors noted ” Diet diversity scores (DDS) were used to quantify the variety in fruit and vegetable consumption. Multivariable proportional hazards models were used to assess the associations between DDS and lung cancer risk. All models were adjusted for smoking behavior and the total consumption of fruit and vegetables.”