title: Fruits and vegetables and lung cancer: Findings from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.
abstract: Intake of fruits and vegetables is thought to protect against the development of lung cancer. However, some recent cohort and case-control studies have shown no protective effect. We have assessed the relation between fruit and vegetable intake and lung cancer incidence in the large prospective investigation on diet and cancer, the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). We studied data from 478,021 individuals that took part in the EPIC study, who were recruited from 10 European countries and who completed a dietary questionnaire during 1992-1998. Follow-up was to December 1998 or 1999, but for some centres with active follow-up to June 2002. During follow-up, 1,074 participants were reported to have developed lung cancer, of whom 860 were eligible for our analysis. We used the Cox proportional hazard model to determine the effect of fruit and vegetable intake on the incidence of lung cancer. We paid particular attention to adjustment for smoking. Relative risk estimates were obtained using fruit and vegetable intake categorised by sex-specific, cohort-wide quintiles. After adjustment for age, smoking, height, weight and gender, there was a significant inverse association between fruit consumption and lung cancer risk: the hazard ratio for the highest quintile of consumption relative to the lowest being 0.60 (95% Confidence Interval 0.46-0.78), p for trend 0.0099. The association was strongest in the Northern Europe centres, and among current smokers at baseline, and was strengthened when the 293 lung cancers diagnosed in the first 2 years of follow-up were excluded from the analysis. There was no association between vegetable consumption or vegetable subtypes and lung cancer risk. The findings from this analysis can be regarded as re-enforcing recommendations with regard to enhanced fruit consumption for populations. However, the effect is likely to be small compared to smoking cessation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany. a.miller@dkfz-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: Anthony B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Altenburg
authors.forename: Bas
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bueno-de-Mesquita
authors.forename: Hendriek C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Boshuizen
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authors.lastname: Agudo
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authors.initials: IT
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authors.lastname: Janson
authors.forename: Jacob
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authors.lastname: Linseisen
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authors.lastname: Overvad
authors.forename: Torgney
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authors.lastname: Rasmuson
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vineis
authors.forename: Annekatrin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lukanova
authors.forename: Naomi
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authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: Pilar
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authors.lastname: Amiano
authors.forename: Aurelio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barricarte
authors.forename: Göran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Berglund
authors.forename: Heiner
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Boeing
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Clavel-Chapelon
authors.forename: Nicholas E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Day
authors.forename: Göran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hallmans
authors.forename: Eiliv
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lund
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Palli
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Panico
authors.forename: Petra H M
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Peeters
authors.forename: José Ramón
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Quirós
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tjønneland
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tumino
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trichopoulou
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Trichopoulos
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Slimani
authors.forename: Elio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Riboli
authors.forename: Dominico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Palli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014675:Vegetables