Posted by kathryn in Vegetables and Q & A Thursday

Next in Q & A Thursday, I’ve been asked about the article in last weekend’s Sunday Telegraph, Eating healthy fruit, vegetables won’t stop cancer. The evidence, presented at the CSIRO Prospects for Cancer Prevention symposium, has apparently “shocked nutritionists”. A group of Melbourne researchers has found there’s “zero evidence” that eating fruit and vegetables will prevent cancer.

Well, to be honest this is actually not quite such shocking news. Numerous studies have been questionning the link between overall cancer prevention and vegetable intake for quite some time. Cohort studies following large groups of people have been inconsistent in their findings. The latest study has been following 42,000 people in Melbourne and its results mirror that of the Nurses Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow Up study – which have all failed to show a strong link between vegetable intake and cancer in general.

Why bother eating vegetables?

While vegies might not be the magic bullet in overall cancer prevention, there’s still a lot of VERY good reasons to eat at least the recommended five servings of vegetables:

• There is evidence they prevent some cancers: while they may not affect the risk of all cancers risk, there is evidence that vegetables can reduce the risk of some cancers. The lycopene in red fruit and vegetables is associated with a reduced prostate cancer risk. There is also evidence for vegetable intake reducing the risk of cancers of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, larynx, lung, ovary and kidney.
• Preventing heart disease: one of the biggest reasons to include vegies in your diet is because it reduces cardiovascular risk. In the Nurses Heath Study those who ate eight or more servings (at least four cups) per day were 30 percent less likely to have a heart attack or stroke. Green leafy and cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy and Brussels, are particularly important in this.
• Preventing macular degeneration & cataracts: a diet high in fruit and vegetables is linked to a lower incidence of both macular degeneration and cataracts, two of the leading causes of blindness in Australia.
• Gastrointestinal health: vegetables are full of fibres which pass through the digestive system, soaking up water and expanding as they go. This will ensure you have regular bowel movements, as well as calming irritable bowels and preventing constipation. Vegetable fibre can also prevent diverticulosis and the often painful diverticulitis.
• Preventing cognitive decline: There is also evidence that a diet high in vegetables can slow mental decline in old age.

So, don’t give up on vegetables – there are still plenty of reasons to eat vegies and to make sure you’re getting at least five servings a day.

More resources

• There’s an excellent factsheet on this subject at the Harvard Public Health website
• The original report was from the Sunday Telegraph
• The Victorian Cancer Council’s response

What is Q & A Thursday

This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a weekly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical and sensible answers to food, diet and health dilemmas sent in by readers. If you have a question you’d like answered, then either leave a comment or send me an email.

30 August, 2007