Nutrition experts have been encouraging us to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables to reduce our risk of heart disease and cancer. Now a large epidemiological study suggests that vegetables and fruits may not offer as much protection from cancer as scientists had hoped. The EPIC study which stands for European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition enrolled nearly 500,000 adults. They were followed for roughly nine years.
There was lower risk of developing cancer among people who ate the most produce but the difference was modest. Investigators had hoped to see at least a 50 percent reduction but instead the improvement was under 5 percent. That doesn’t mean we should give up on fruits and vegetables as they have many other benefits. It does suggest, however, that we shouldn’t expect miracles. We may also need to focus in on particular types of produce to discover whether some fruits or vegetables pack a bigger anti-cancer punch than others.
[Journal of the National Cancer Institute, April 6, 2010]
The People's Perspective on Medicine