Fruits, Vegetables Won't Lower Cancer Risk

"Ignoramus1308" wrote in message
...
Whoops. According to this study, it turns out that eating fruits and
vegetables does not lower cancer risk! Fruits and vegs might have some
other benefits, but cancer prevention, in general, is not one of them,
as this study suggests.

Fruits and vegetables may have effect on some particular cancers, but
not cancer risk as a whole.


But it does appear to have an effect on cardiovascular disease and since
heart disease is still the #1 killer of men in this country that would be
something positive to cull from this instead of only looking for the
negative.

Jenn
taking out the moron's crossposting

Ignoramus1308 wrote:
Whoops. According to this study, it turns out that eating fruits and
vegetables does not lower cancer risk! Fruits and vegs might have some
other benefits, but cancer prevention, in general, is not one of them,
as this study suggests.

Fruits and vegetables may have effect on some particular cancers, but
not cancer risk as a whole.
================================================== ====================
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...owercancerrisk

Fruits, Vegetables Won't Lower Cancer Risk


maybe any benefit is offset by the effects of all those nasty
carcinogenic herbicides and pesticides that smother the fruit and veg?

--
succorso

Walt is doing some great stuff there at Harvard. I'd highly recommend
his book if you come across it.

.... though, as it implies here, you have to look at epidemiological
studies with discression, as it's ever-so-easy to be mislead by the
results. .

I'd like to see them look at the corelation between omega3 and other
EFA's and cancer... or perhaps specific phytochemicals.

Oddly, I think that diary might prove to have a role, which is
something that Willett saw 'no use for' in his book...

Has anyone read David Katz's (head of nutrition at Yale) book?



On 3 Nov 2004 01:05:30 GMT, Ignoramus1308
wrote:

Whoops. According to this study, it turns out that eating fruits and
vegetables does not lower cancer risk! Fruits and vegs might have some
other benefits, but cancer prevention, in general, is not one of them,
as this study suggests.

Fruits and vegetables may have effect on some particular cancers, but
not cancer risk as a whole.
================================================= =====================
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...owercancerrisk

Fruits, Vegetables Won't Lower Cancer Risk

2 hours, 55 minutes ago
Health - HealthDay

By Janice Billingsley
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Nov. 2 (HealthDayNews) -- Eating plenty of fruits and
vegetables may be good for your heart health, but a new study finds it
won't lower your overall risk of developing cancer.

Yahoo! Health
Have questions about your health?
Find answers here.




The study belies longstanding recommendations that people increase
their consumption of fruits and vegetables to ward off cancer. Experts
were quick to point out, however, that the latest research applies to
any cancer, adding that such a diet could still prevent specific
malignancies, such as tumors of the colon or bladder.

Harvard doctors found a 28 percent reduction in cardiovascular risk
among nearly 110,000 health professionals surveyed for lifestyle
patterns and medical history who include at least five servings of
fruits and vegetables in their daily diets.

However, they found no reduction in cancer rates among those who ate
five or more servings of fruits and vegetables.

The results "support the recommendation of consuming five or more
servings of fruits and vegetables daily. However, the benefit of
increasing intake of fruits and vegetables appear to be due primarily
to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, not cancer," the authors
concluded. In cancer prevention, "the protective effect of fruit and
vegetable intake may have been overstated."

The results appear in the Nov. 3 issue of the Journal of the National
Cancer Institute (news - web sites).

For the study, Dr. Walter C. Willett, of the nutrition department of
the Boston Harvard School of Public Health, analyzed data from
participants in two large ongoing studies that assess how lifestyles
influence health. These are the Nurses' Health Study, started in 1976,
and the Health Professionals' Follow-up Study, begun in 1986.

Analyzing the results of regular questionnaires filled out by the
participants regarding their eating habits and overall health, Willett
and his colleagues found those who ate at least five servings a day of
fruit and vegetables had a slightly lower risk for chronic diseases
such as hypertension and diabetes, and a significantly lower risk for
cardiovascular disease.

The authors suggest that this could be due to increased intake of the
multiple nutrients that are found in fruits and vegetables, such as
folic acid and potassium. Eating green leafy vegetables was
particularly associated with a reduction in cardiovascular risk (11
percent).

However, the authors concluded that despite recommendations from
health professionals that five or more servings of fruits and
vegetables are helpful for cancer prevention, their study found no
reduction in risk for cancer among the study participants with a high
intake of fruits and vegetables compared to those who had only one
serving of these food groups daily.

The median intake of fruits and vegetables for the study participants
was five servings a day, comparing favorably to the average intake in
the U.S. population of one serving of fruits and vegetables per
day. The authors suggest the higher intake of fruits and vegetables
among the study participants reflected the fact that they are health
professionals and also are in higher socioeconomic level than the
average American.

"These results are not entirely surprising," said Marji McCullough, a
nutritional epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society (news - web
sites), because the study surveyed the effects of fruit and vegetable
consumption on all kinds of cancer, rather than just the ones that
have shown some risk reduction from dietary habits.

"I still think there are reasons to believe that fruits and vegetables
might impact specific cancers, like colorectal and bladder cancers,"
she said. "Just because the association wasn't strong for cancer
doesn't rule out a role for fruits and vegetables in cancer. Eating a
healthy diet, for instance, may help prevent weight gain that we know
is associated with cancer."

Maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active and not smoking
are three very important lifestyle components that can reduce cancer
risk, McCullough added.

The authors suggest the difference between their findings and previous
work seeking associations between cancer and diet may be that many of
the previous studies have been case-controlled, which means that
participants reported their dietary intake after they were diagnosed
with disease. This can lead to bias in recall and reporting. In this
study, eating questionnaires were filled out by healthy participants
before any illness was apparent.

Also a possibility, the authors add, is that cancer can take much
longer to develop in the body compared to cardiovascular disease, and
this study did not address eating habits before adulthood.

More information



The American Cancer Society offers information diet and cancer.
--
223/172.5/180

(Renegade5) wrote in message .rogers.com...
Walt is doing some great stuff there at Harvard. I'd highly recommend
his book if you come across it.

... though, as it implies here, you have to look at epidemiological
studies with discression, as it's ever-so-easy to be mislead by the
results. .

I'd like to see them look at the corelation between omega3 and other
EFA's and cancer... or perhaps specific phytochemicals.

Oddly, I think that diary might prove to have a role, which is
something that Willett saw 'no use for' in his book...

Has anyone read David Katz's (head of nutrition at Yale) book?






"Experts were quick to point out, however, that the latest research
applies to any cancer, adding that such a diet could still prevent
specific malignancies, such as tumors of the colon or bladder."


"These results are not entirely surprising," said Marji McCullough, a
nutritional epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society (news - web
sites), because the study surveyed the effects of fruit and vegetable
consumption on all kinds of cancer, rather than just the ones that
have shown some risk reduction from dietary habits."


These "experts" are amazing. The study found no reduction in cancer
rates for those eating 5 servings of fruit a day, compared to the
average of 1 serving. Yet the "experts" say eating fruit and
vegetables could still prevent specific malignancies. And exactly
what does that mean? Instead of getting colon cancer, the increased
fruit increases the rate of another cancer? That's the only way the
overall rate would not be lowered. The bottom line was that the study
showed no measurable lowering of cancer rates from eating lots of
fruits and vegetables. That is contrary to current recommendations
and one would think these experts would want to reconsider their
advice or refute the study, rather than try to explain it away with
BS.

On 4 Nov 2004 06:07:05 -0800, (Chet Hayes)
wrote:

"Experts were quick to point out, however, that the latest research
applies to any cancer, adding that such a diet could still prevent
specific malignancies, such as tumors of the colon or bladder."


"These results are not entirely surprising," said Marji McCullough, a
nutritional epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society (news - web
sites), because the study surveyed the effects of fruit and vegetable
consumption on all kinds of cancer, rather than just the ones that
have shown some risk reduction from dietary habits."


These "experts" are amazing. The study found no reduction in cancer
rates for those eating 5 servings of fruit a day, compared to the
average of 1 serving. Yet the "experts" say eating fruit and
vegetables could still prevent specific malignancies. And exactly
what does that mean? Instead of getting colon cancer, the increased
fruit increases the rate of another cancer? That's the only way the
overall rate would not be lowered. The bottom line was that the study
showed no measurable lowering of cancer rates from eating lots of
fruits and vegetables. That is contrary to current recommendations
and one would think these experts would want to reconsider their
advice or refute the study, rather than try to explain it away with
BS.

Yeah, that's kind a a glaring inconsistency. :-) Would have been
nice if they had provided their interpetation or some more explanation
on that.

Did fruit and veggies decrease the rate of colon cancer, but
carcinogens (from pesticides, etc.) increase the rate of stomach
cancer, for example, (as you suggest)?

Was the reduced cancer (ie. bowel cancer) statistically insignificent
when thrown into the whole mix (lung, breast, and prostate must be far
be the vast majority of cancers) as someone else suggested?

Or was it some other wacky epidemiological fluke that often comes into
play... ie. the people who ate more fruits and veggies were from the
more southern and warmer climates (where fruit is cheaper) so also had
increased sun exposure, and higher incidents of skin cancer?

Or the people in the northern climates who ate more fruit and veggies
(where they are more expensive) have more money to spend on groceries,
and also ate more products containing trans fats (or something)
increasing their cancer rate. Maybe they had more BBQ steak, and a
higher rate of stomach cancer?

Or maybe... well... you get the idea. Epidemiological studies have
been a huge, huge, benefit... but there are so many variables that can
be mis-interpreted by the researchers.