title: Fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of colorectal cancer in Japan: The Miyagi Cohort Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Adequate fruit and vegetable intake has been suggested to protect against colorectal cancer. However, several recent prospective studies have reported no association. We therefore examined the association between fruit and vegetable intakes and the risk of colorectal cancer in a prospective cohort study in Japan.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between June and August 1990, 47 605 Japanese men and women completed a self-administered questionnaire, including a food-frequency questionnaire. We divided the subjects into quartiles based on their self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption. There were 165 colon cancer and 110 rectal cancer incidences identified during 7 years of follow-up, to the end of December 1997. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the relative risk (RR) of developing colorectal cancer according to the level of fruit and vegetable consumption, applying adjustments for potential confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No statistically significant association was observed between fruit and vegetable consumption and the risk of colorectal cancer. The multivariate RR of colon cancer in the highest quartile of fruit and vegetable intake compared with the lowest was 1.13 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.73-1.75), the RR for vegetables alone was 1.24 (95% CI 0.79-1.95) and that for fruit alone was 1.45 (95% CI 0.85-2.47). The corresponding multivariate RRs for rectal cancer were 1.12 (95% CI 0.67-1.89), 1.14 (95% CI 0.67-1.93) and 1.41 (95% CI 0.73-2.73).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found no association between the consumption of fruit and vegetables and the risk of colorectal cancer among the Japanese population.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo, Aoba, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. syukiki@mail.tains.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsubono
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nakaya
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.forename: Kayoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kurashima
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuriyama
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hozawa
authors.forename: Yoshikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishino
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shibuya
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tsuji
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014675:Vegetables