Eating a moderate amount of vegetables, particularly green leafy vegetables, seems to lower a man's risk of developing colorectal cancer, researchers found.
"Our results suggest that regular consumption of fruit and vegetables protects against colorectal cancer," study chief Dr. Yikyung Park of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, told Reuters Health.
"Considering other health benefits of fruit and vegetables, people are encouraged to consume more fruit and vegetables," Park added.
Fruits and vegetables, which are packed with potentially cancer-fighting compounds like vitamin C, carotenoids, folate, fiber, and flavonoids, have been hypothesized to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, but hard data for humans are lacking.
Park and colleagues looked at associations between fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of colorectal cancer in 488,043 men and women aged 50 to 71 years in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. Over the course of 5 years, 2,972 developed colorectal cancer.
Results showed that men who consumed very low amounts of fruit and vegetables (less than 1 serving per day) had 26-percent greater risk of having colorectal cancer than those who consumed low to high amounts (2 or more servings per day).
Men who ate the most servings of vegetables daily had an 18 percent lower risk of developing colorectal cancer compared with men who ate the fewest servings, they report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Women with the highest daily servings of vegetables appeared to have a slightly increased risk of colorectal cancer, compared with women reporting the lowest daily servings of vegetables.
But the authors caution that this gender difference may be explained by reporting errors, noting that in past studies women have over reported foods perceived as healthy.
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology
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