Eat plenty of veggie

Vegetables, fruits and antioxidant vitamins may reduce the risk of lymphoid cancer.

A study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Third Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, has revealed that vegetables, fruits and antioxidant vitamins may reduce the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), a form of cancer of the lymphoid tissue.

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The results of the study showed that individuals who consumed three or more servings of vegetables per day (not including potatoes) had a 40 percent lower risk of developing NHL compared to people who ate less than one serving per day.

The findings were particularly strong for one or more servings per day of green leafy vegetables and one half or more servings per day of vegetables from the broccoli and cabbage family (including cauliflower and Brussels sprouts).

Lower risks were also found, but not very significantly, with higher intakes of whole fruits like yellow/orange/red vegetables and processed tomato products such as tomato sauce and tomato juice. For specific nutrients, higher intakes of both selenium and zinc were also associated with lower risk of NHL.

The researchers, however, found no strong link to increased intakes of the individual vitamins A, C, or E, or individual carotenoids or retinol.

"Dietary modifications such as eating more vegetables and fruits are within the public's grasp to lower their risk of cancer and other diseases. We hope that these findings, in conjunction with continued research and reporting, will help to favorably change the public's eating behavior," said Dr. Linda Kelemen of Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, who was the principal investigator of the study.