Vegetables and fruit intake and cancer mortality in the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Life Span Study

The association between green-yellow vegetables and fruit consumption and risk of cancer death was investigated in a prospective study of 38 540 men and women who were atomic-bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Study participants completed a dietary questionnaire in 1980–1981 and were followed-up for cancer deaths until March 1998, during which time 3136 cancer deaths were identified. Daily or almost daily fruit consumption was associated with a significant 12% reduction in total cancer mortality (RR=0.88; 95% CI, 0.80–0.96 for daily intake compared with intake once per week or less). Daily or almost daily green-yellow vegetables consumption was associated with a marginally significant 8% reduction in total cancer mortality (0.92; 0.94–1.01). Green-yellow vegetables consumption was associated with a significant reduction in liver cancer mortality (0.75; 0.60–0.95). Fruit consumption was associated with a significantly reduced risk of stomach cancer and lung cancer mortality (0.80; 0.65–0.98). Green-yellow vegetables and fruit consumption was associated with a reduction in oesophageal cancer, but these associations were not statistically significant. Neither green-yellow vegetables nor fruit consumption was associated with colorectal cancer or breast cancer mortality. These results support the evidence that daily consumption of fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of total cancer, and specifically cancers of the stomach, liver, and lung.