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Research has shown time and again that eating a diet high in fruits and veggies can help you live a healthier, longer life. From preventing coronary heart disease to protecting against strokes, the best preventative medicine sits in an aisle of your local grocery. Now new research is again trumpeting the powers of produce in a different arena: the prevention of lung cancer, even for smokers.
The study, published this week in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, found that eating a rich variety of vegetables and fruits decreases lung cancer risk. Conducted by scientists in the Netherlands, the research looked at health data from over 450,000 participants. The data came from Europe’s Prospective into Cancer and Nutrition project (EPIC), a huge gathering of information designed to look at the potential ways in which diet and environmental factors play into cancer risk. Other research from EPIC’s data has shed light on the risk factors for breast, colon, prostate, and gastric cancer. The habits of the 1,600 people from the EPIC study who developed lung cancer were researched in order to do this study.
The diet of the 1,600 participants was evaluated, and their consumption of different fruits and veggies was recorded. For fruits, both dried, fresh, and canned varieties were considered. For vegetables, onion, garlic, greens, root, and stalk vegetables were among the 26 categories.
According to this new findings, a subject’s risk of developing lung cancer decreased when fruits and veggies were eaten, regardless of the amount—here, variety, not quantity, was important. Each different type of produce eaten reduced the risk of cancer by another 4%, up to a total decrease of 23%. This decrease occurred for all types of lung cancer, including squamous cell carcinoma, a type of cancer developed by smokers. Squamous cell cancer can also be caused by alcohol, and it makes up to 90% of head and neck cancers. The findings support the conclusion that it is the variety of fruits and vegetables consumed, not necessarily the quantity, that help support health.
H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, senior scientist of cancer epidemiology of the Netherlands-based National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, believes that the varied biochemicals found in different fruits and veggies can help fight the many types of carcinogens found in tobacco smoke. It’s difficult to pinpoint the active molecules in fruit and vegetables that bring the benefits, but the larger the breadth of produce you consume, the greater chance that you’re getting the ones you need.
“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,” Bueno-de-Mesquita said.
Steven Hecht, a member of the editorial board for the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, stressed the importance of the findings, in a world where many can’t or don’t want to quit smoking.
“There are still over a billion smokers in the world, and many are addicted to nicotine and cannot stop in spite of their best efforts,” said Hecht, who teaches at the University of Minnesota.
Bueno-de-Mesquita was quick to emphasize, however, that the study does not mean that smokers can begin eating more vegetables in order to sleep easy at night.
“Smoking is by far the most important, recognized avoidable, risk factor for lung cancer,” he said in the paper.
This post was originally hosted on An Apple A Day, a health and nutrition blog.
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Sign in nowI think us flatlanders from Florida may be more susceptible! Or at least that’s what I told myself after my first trip to Denver – only 5000 feet – and acted like an angry drunk after going right to work setting up a trade show booth after getting off the plane.
Thanks for the tips!
I agree with you completely that we need to reexamine food and our relationship with food as Americans. Food is more than “fuel.” Eating should be an experience, a way in which to feed our minds, our emotions and our bodies. You make an interesting point when you say that good food habits should be taught in schools. As a public school teacher at a low income school, I constantly reinforce the importance of healthy and mindful eating. Low-income groups are most at risk for chronic diseases as a result of poor nutrition. In my classroom, I become a snack-Nazi, running around between the desks in the fourth grade and confiscating anything crunchy that comes in a bag (besides baby carrots, of course). I make the kids check the labels for high-fructose, Yellow 5, and words they can’t pronounce. What I find, however, is that families continue to send food to school that is anything but food. To be honest, sometimes I simply pretend like I don’t see the kids cramming hot Cheetos in their mouths under their desks before I can get to them. While I can lecture and explain and reinforce, what needs to happen in our country is access to good food for poor people.
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
Excellent post – and of course WHO’s ‘emergency committee’ is claiming that the pandemic threat is “not yet over!” because that’s the message that Big Pharma is paying for.
The WHO guidelines were pepared in collaboration with a group called the European Scientific Working Group on Influenza (ESWI). But what this committee did not disclose is that ESWI is funded entirely by the drug company Roche and other influenza drug and flu vaccine manufacturers.
The H1N1 scare was very good for business last year. J.P. Morgan reported that the pharmaceutical companies did very nicely during this health scare, profiting to the tune of $7 billion from the sale of vaccines alone.
While WHO may have not disclosed the entire committee’s identities, the British Medical Journal investigation revealed that two of the identified “experts” (René Snacken and Daniel Lavanchy) were not only on Big Pharma payrolls, but had actually participated in Roche marketing events.
Why would WHO even consider touching these guys with a 10-foot pole – never mind accepting credible scientific counsel from them?
More at “Did Big Pharma Fund The Swine Flu Panic?” at: THE ETHICAL NAG: MARKETING ETHICS FOR THE EASILY SWAYED – http://www.ethicalnag.org/2010/06/21/h1n1-flu-panic/
Good information here – and yet it should come as no surprise given what we already know about the devastating psychological effects of any disaster on human beings. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has been widely studied and linked with virtually every catastrophic life event on us.
PTSD is a debilitating emotional illness that can develop when you experience or even witness a dangerous, terrifying, or possibly life-threatening stressful event – an event that is outside the range of what’s considered to be a normal human experience. About 7-8% of the general population will develop PTSD, but for military veterans, rape victims and heart attack survivors, this number can go up to an astonishing 30%.
As your article reminds us, PTSD can also strike both survivors and relief workers at natural or terrorist disasters, as well as anyone who has either experienced or witnessed this kind of trauma.
New York City’s World Trade Center Health Registry reported that 20% of New Yorkers who lived below Canal Street (close to the World Trade Center) were estimated to suffer from PTSD following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, compared to 11% of all New York City residents. About 5% of trained relief workers were diagnosed with PTSD as a result of just listening to stories from survivors of the attacks.
Hardest hit among 9/11 relief workers were those who were pulled off their regular jobs to perform tasks they were not prepared for – like the city’s sanitation workers who were assigned to help with search and rescue, or relief workers who spent more than 90 days at Ground Zero. Most relief workers showed no further symptoms six months later, but Twin Tower survivors themselves reported suffering PTSD symptoms up to five years after the attacks.
A Harvard Medical School study of survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans found ‘delayed onset’ PTSD symptoms that actually increased over the first two years following. The worst-affected Katrina survivors were both close to the epicentre of the tragedy as well as abandoned on their own without help for far too long – both extremely dangerous PTSD risk factors.
“Abandoned on their own without help for far too long” sounds like an apt description of those impacted by the horrific events in the Gulf day after day, week after week while the oil continued to spew.
More on PTSD after a catastrophic life event at: “Not Just For Soldiers Anymore: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder After A Heart Attack” — http://www.myheartsisters.org/2009/08/25/ptsd/
great blog thank you
Dengue is a Killer. My close friend’s mother pass away due to Dengue Fever.
nice article, keep the posts coming
Good show. Interesting info too about anaphylaxis.
I just signed up to your blogs rss feed. Will you post more on this subject?
Very good post. Anticipating the next one.
One can’t help but wonder if disasters like this are the cause of cancer and other illnesses. After all, we all become affected by the contaminated water & dust eventually.
Thanks for a wonderful and informative post. As a vegetarian traveler, I know how difficult it can be to find meals in some countries! I had no idea about Trinidad & Tobago – I will have to add that to my travel list.
I didn’t realize people of mixed heritage had a more difficult time finding bone marrow donors.
I can’t wait to try finding basic recipes for some of these dishes and “veganizing” them! Great post.
I’ve heard that vegetarianism is unknown in Japan. If you say you are a vegetarian there, for example, they will just give you more vegetables with your meals (along with meat).
Haha, love that the clip has Spanish subtitles.
Sometimes I’m not sure what to think when pain is involved in anything. Medical experts say to expect pain in certain situations, but for the most part, I thought pain was indicator that something is wrong in your body.
Does sitting on a bouncy ball help at all?