NPR ran an article today, Fruits and Veggies Prevent Cancer? Not So Much, It Turns Out…
Excerpts:
“A huge nine-year study of diet and cancer, involving nearly a half-million Europeans in 10 countries, finds only a very weak association between intake of fruits and vegetables and cancer incidence. The study is in the current issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Those who get an extra two servings of fruits and veggies a day lower their cancer risk by only four percent.”
Not the best news, but at least it cuts the risk by 4%. I’m inclined to think this study is correct, that fruits and vegetables help prevent cancer, but not by a lot. Good news is later in the article:
“But meanwhile, there’s a pretty strong reason for everybody to continue eating lots of fruits and vegetables. It’s called cardiovascular disease. A 2004 study in the JNCI found that eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day is associated with a 28 percent lower risk of heart disease and stroke, compared to people who eat fewer than 1.5 servings a day.”
