Eating Fruit and Veg Won’t Reduce the Risk Of Cancer

Eating five fruit and veg a day might keep the doctor away but eating large quantities of the good stuff doesn’t reduce the risk of cancer according to an article published by the British Journal of Cancer. For decades fruit and veg intake has been linked to the risk of developing cancer, but a culmination of 10 years of study has found an increased intake has little effect, compared to maintaining a healthy weight and reducing smoking and alcohol consumption.

"There's strong scientific evidence to show that, after smoking, being overweight and alcohol are two of the biggest cancer risks," said Tim Key an epidemiologist from Oxford University, who wrote the review.

Although it’s important to eat fruit and veg as part of a healthy lifestyle, the research, which involved more than a million people, found that eating your five a day or more had only a marginal effect in protecting against cancer. Eating large amounts of fruit and veg would only reduce the cancer risk by a maximum of 10%.
Obesity and alcohol were the only diet related factors found that unquestionably affected the risk of cancer.Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: "While stopping smoking remains the best way to cut your chances of developing cancer, the importance of keeping a healthy weight and cutting down on alcohol shouldn’t be overlooked.”

But Key does not rule out that ability of fruit and vegetables to protect against cancer will emerge in the future and Ed Yong, head of healthy evidence and information at Cancer Research UK, has expressed it is still important that people get their minimum of five portions of fruit and veg a day.

"It's not a bad message because it could help people to lose weight, which is a massive cause of cancer, and it could displace other unhealthierthings in their diet," he stressed. "There's no harm to eating lots of fruits and vegetables and there are benefits for other diseases as well, such as heart disease."Your local fruit supplier in Kent will be happy to help you make the most of the fruit in season.