To reduce the risk of
lung cancer, people should not only eat fruits and vegetables daily, but
also increase the variety, researchers in Spain say.
Study co-author Maria Jose Sanchez Perez, director of the
Granada Cancer Registry at the Andalusian School of Public Health, says
the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study
involved 10 European countries -- Germany, Denmark, Spain, France,
Greece, Holland, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom and Sweden -- and
some 500,000 people.
The study found greater variety in fruit and vegetable
consumption is associated with a lower risk of developing epidermoid
carcinoma of the lung -- with an additional two units of fruit and
vegetable consumption leading to a 9-percent reduction in risk. The
effect was more pronounced among smokers -- the risk fell by 12 percent.
The findings are published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.