Data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study showed that for every 200 grams (about two servings) of total fruits and vegetables eaten per day, the incidence of cancer was reduced by 3%.
The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is the largest ever conducted to date on diet and cancer. It included 142,605 men and 335,873 women. The participants were followed for an average of about nine years, during which time over 30,000 cases of cancer were diagnosed.
Headlines See Cup Half Empty
Doctors, led by Paolo Boffetta, M.D., at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, reviewed more than eight years of data, between 1992 and 2000.
“The bottom line here is that, yes, we did find a protective effect of fruit and vegetable intake against cancer, but it is a smaller connection than previously thought,” Boffetta said in a press release issued by Mount Sinai.
Health Benefits of Fruits & Vegetables
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a recommendation in 1990 suggesting that five servings of fruit and vegetables per day helped prevent cancer and other diseases.
“Worldwide, low intake of fruits and vegetables is estimated to cause about 19% of gastrointestinal cancer, about 31% of ischemic heart disease and 11% stroke,” the WHO says on its website.
In an editorial accompanying the EPIC study, Dr. Walter Willett, M.D., from the Harvard School of Public Health noted that a considerable body of science supports a link between lycopene in tomato products and a reduced risk of prostate cancer.
Dr. Willet pointed out that the EPIC study, like almost all studies on diet and cancer miss the fact that cancer studies need to include a much longer time period, including childhood due to the long exposure time required to develop cancer.
“Multiple lines of evidence indicate that ionizing radiation and some other risk factors for cancer can operate primarily in childhood and early adult life; thus, antioxidants or other protective constituents of fruits and vegetables may need to be present at that time to be effective,” reports Dr. Willet.
“Like the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), almost all studies of diet and cancer would have missed such effects because they started decades later in life,” he added.
The key take home message is that for every two servings of fruit and vegetables you eat, you reduce your risk of cancer by 3%, so eat more fruits and vegetables.
Source:
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
Published online ahead of print, doi:10.1093/jnci/djq072
“Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Overall Cancer Risk in the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)”
Authors: P. Boffetta, E. Couto, J. Wichmann, P. Ferrari, et al.
Editorial:
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
10.1093/jnci/djq098
“Fruits, Vegetables, and Cancer Prevention: Turmoil in the Produce Section”
Authors: W.C. Willett