One Extra Serving of Fruits and Vegetables May Lower Risk Of Head And Neck Cancer (and that's not all)

A new study on cancer has found that just one additional serving of vegetables or fruits could help lower the risk of head and neck cancer, and the more fruits and vegetables you can consume the better.

From the American Association of Cancer Research:

A new study among AARP members shows that just one additional serving of fruit and vegetables per day may lower your risk of head and neck cancer, but the data suggest that you may not want to stop at just one, according to researchers from the National Cancer Institute.

A large prospective study of 500,000 men and women aged 50 and older has found that those who ate more fruit and vegetables had a reduced risk of head and neck cancer. Head and neck cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, resulting in more than 350,000 deaths annually.

"Identifying protective factors for head and neck cancer is particularly important as it has a high mortality rate," said Neal Freedman, Ph.D., cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute.

At the beginning of the study, participants reported their typical dietary habits on a food frequency questionnaire. Freedman and his colleagues followed participants for five years and recorded all diagnoses of head and neck cancer cases during this time.

In their findings, the researchers report that participants who ate six servings of fruit and vegetables per day per 1000 calories had 29 percent less risk for head and neck cancer than did participants who consumed one and a half servings per 1000 calories per day. Typically, adults consume approximately 2000 calories per day. One serving equals approximately one medium sized fresh fruit, one half cup of cut fruit, six ounces fruit juice, one cup leafy vegetables, or one half cup of other vegetables.

"Increasing consumption by just one serving of fruit or vegetables per 1000 calories per day was associated with a six percent reduction in head and neck cancer risk," Freedman said.

According to Freedman, people who ate a lot of fruit also tended to eat a lot of vegetables, and vice versa. To measure these two types of foods independently, the researchers included both fruit and vegetable intake in the statistical models, a common statistical approach. This allowed them to compare participants with different levels of fruit consumption while holding constant the level of vegetable intake and vice versa. When examining fruit and vegetable intake simultaneously, the protective association with vegetables seemed to be stronger than the association with fruits.

"Although we cannot absolutely rule out a cancer preventive role for other lifestyle factors that go along with eating more fruits and vegetables, our results are consistent with those from previous studies," Freedman said. "Our study suggests that fruit and vegetable consumption may protect against head and neck cancer and adds support to current dietary recommendations to increase fruit and vegetable consumption."

In related news, in two other recent studies have shown the benefits of eating a large variety of plant-based foods in preventing cancer. One showed the benefit of eating broccoli and soy in affecting the motility of breast and ovarian cancer cells. The other study looked at the intake of flavonols (compounds found in fruits and vegetables such as onions, apples, berries, kale and broccoli) to their risk of pancreatic cancer and found that those "who had the highest consumption of flavonols reduced their risk of pancreatic cancer by 23 percent." The benefits for smokers is particularly pronounced.

"The effect was largest in smokers, presumably because they are at increased pancreatic cancer risk already. Smoking is the only established risk factor for pancreatic cancer, and short of stopping tobacco use, it has been difficult to consistently show lifestyle factors that might help protect against this deadly cancer.

And finally, Science Daily is reporting on a University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences press release noting the development of a vaccine strategy for head and neck cancer. Phase I clinical trials of the vaccine "have begun at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute to assess its safety in head and neck cancer patients." ScienceDaily noted that head and neck cancer accounts for about 5 percent of all newly diagnosed cancers in the United States and have a poor five-year survival rate even after treatment.

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