PARIS - EATING lots of fruit and vegetables has only a small effect on warding off cancer, a study published on Wednesday says, although its authors insist that tucking into the recommended 'five-a-day' is still good for general health.
Doctors led by Paolo Boffetta at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, pored over eight years of data from a major European investigation into the relationship between cancer risk and food.
The investigation, which is continuing, covers nearly 470,000 volunteers recruited in 10 Western European countries. Between 1992 and 2000, more than 30,000 of the participants were diagnosed with cancer.
Dr. Boffetta's team found that high consumption of fruit and vegetables gave only a modest protective effect against cancer.
An increase of 200 grams a day resulted in a reduction of cancer risk in the order of some three per cent. Vegetable consumption by itself also gave a small benefit, although this was restricted to women, while heavy drinkers who ate many fruit and veggies had a somewhat reduced risk, but only for cancers linked to alcohol and smoking.
'The bottom line here is that, yes, we did find a protective effect of fruit and vegetable intake against cancer, but it is a smaller connection than previously thought,' Dr Boffetta said in a press release issued by Mount Sinai. -- AFP
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