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Health News Archive 346 - Cancer
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Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Linked to Reduced Risk of Cancer

Two new studies have found that fruit and vegetable consumption is linked to a reduced risk of oral cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

In the first study, researchers from Italy analyzed the medical literature to determine if fruit and vegetable consumption was related to a reduced risk of oral cancer, the seventh most common form of cancer worldwide.
They conducted a comprehensive, systematic search of medical literature published up to September 2005 to identify relevant studies. Based on the results of these studies, the researchers calculated the effect of daily intake of fruit or vegetables on the risk of oral cancer. They analyzed fruit and vegetable consumption separately.

After analyzing the 16 studies that met the inclusion criteria, the researchers determined that for each portion of fruit consumed per day, the risk of oral cancer was reduced by 49 percent. Vegetable consumption also resulted in a 50 percent reduction of oral cancer.

Another study investigated fruit and vegetable intake’s effect on the risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Researchers investigated whether antioxidant-rich fruits, vegetables and nutrients can reduce the risk of developing this disease.

The study authors identified 466 subjects with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma from a National Cancer Institute-sponsored study and 391 matched controls. The study authors evaluated the diets of the NHL subjects compared to the subjects free from the disease. The results indicated that the more vegetables the subjects consumed weekly, the less their risk of developing NHL. This same reduced risk was found for green leafy vegetables and cruciferous vegetables specifically and with higher daily intakes of lutein, zeaxanthin and zinc.

References: Pavia M, Pileggi C, Nobile CG, Angelillo IF. Association between fruit and vegetable consumption and oral cancer: a meta-analysis of observational studies. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 May;83(5):1126-34.

Kelemen LE, Cerhan JR, Lim U, Davis S, Cozen W, Schenk M, Colt J, Hartge P, Ward MH. Vegetables, fruit, and antioxidant-related nutrients and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma: a National Cancer Institute-Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results population-based case-control study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jun;83(6):1401-10.

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