Philip Morris
Original Paper Vegetable and Fruit Intake and the Risk of Lung Cancer in Women in Ain Barcelona, Spain
Fields
- Author
- Agudo, A.
- Badia, A.
- Esteve, M.G.
- Fabregat, X.
- Gonzalez, C.A.
- Machengs, I.
- Malats, N.
- Martinballarin, I.
- Pallares, C.
- Badia, A.
- Type
- PSCI, PUBLICATION SCIENTIFIC
- BIBL, BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Area
- CARCHMAN,RICHARD/OFFICE
- Litigation
- Iwoh/Produced
- Characteristic
- EXTR, EXTRA
- MARG, MARGINALIA
- Site
- R530
- Named Organization
- Intl Agency for Research on Cancer
- Pergamon
- Spanish Ministry of Health
- Pergamon
- Author (Organization)
- Institut Municipal Dinvestigacio Medica
- Lhopitalet De Llobregat
- Pergamon
- Clinica Alianca
- Consorci Sanitari De Mataro
- Dept of Preventive Medicine
- Elsevier Science
- European Journal of Cancer
- Hospital De La Santa Creu I Sant Pau
- Hospital De Lesperanca
- Inst of Epidemiology
- Inst of Epidemiology + Clinical Research
- Lhopitalet De Llobregat
- Named Person
- Agudo, A.
- Mas, C.
- Master ID
- 2063633034/3485
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PII: S0959-8049(97)00050-6
Original Paper
Vegetable and Fruit Intake and the Risk of Lung Cancer in
Women in Barcelona, Spain
A. Ag~do,x M.G. Esteve,2 C. Pallar&s,~ I. Mardnez-Ballar~n,~ X. Fabregat,~ N. Malats,6
I. Machengs,~ A. Badias and C.A. Gonzfilez'
IInstitute of Epidemiology and Clinical Research, c. Jordi Joan, 5, 08301, Matar6; 2Department of
Preventive
Medicine, Resid~ncia Germans Trias i Puiol, Badalona; ~Deparunent of Oncology, Hospital de la Santa
Creu i
Sam Pau, Barcelona; *Department of Pneumology, Resid~ncia Sanitaria de Bellvitge, L'Hospitalet de
Llobrega~; ~Deparunent of Oncology, Hospital de l'Esperan~a, Barcelona; ~Instimte of Epidemiology,
Institu~
Municipal d'Investigaci6 M~dica (IMIM), Barcelona; ~Department of Oncology, Cllnica Alian~a,
Barcelona;
rUnit of Oncology, Consorci Sanitari de Matar6, Spain
A case-control study on women was carried out in Barcelona, Spain, to investigate r.he relationship
of lung cancer with the intake of vegetables, fruits and some foods of animal origin. The study
included 103 cases and 206 controls matched by age and residence. Diet intake was assessed by
means of a food frequency questionnaire. A reduction in risk, adjusted for smoking habit, was found
for the intake of yellow/orange vegetables (mainly carrots) and tomatoes. The odds ratio (OR) and
95% confidence interval (CI) for the highest versus lowest terfile of intake were 0.~7 (0.19-0.74)
for
yellow/orange vegetables and 0.45 (0.22-0.91) for tomatoes; both had a significant inverse trend. A
tendency to a reduction in risk of lung cancer with increased intake was observed for all
vegetables,
leafy green vegetables, dark green vegetables and cruciferous, but these associations did not reach
statistical significance. No association with lung cancer was found for the intake of fruits or
foods of
animal origin rich in retinol. Similar patterns were observed for women who never smoked and
when the analysis was restricted to adenocareinoma. ~ 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
Key words: lung neoplasms, vegetables, fruit, case-control studies
Eur,7 Cancer, Vol. 33, No. 8, pp. 1256-1261, 1997
INTRODUCTION
EP~D~.M~OLOG~C-~L ~nDENC~ suggesting that some dietary
factors may be associated with a rcductinn in the risk of
lung cancer is accumulating. The results have been remark-
ably consistent, showing a protective effect related to. the
intake of" vegetables and fruits [1-3]. Both are common
sources of many substances with potential protective effect,
but their effect in reducing lung cancer risk was initially
attributed to ~-carotene. Epideminlogical s~udies Linking
dietary factors with a lower risk of lung cancer, along with
experiments with animal models, provided the basis for
intevcention studies [4-6]. Taken together, they provide
strong evidence of no benefit of ~-caro~ne snpplements~
with possible evidence for harm. In fact, in the Finnish
Corr~pondence to A. Agudo.
Received 9 Sop. 1996; revised 2 Dec. 1996; accepted 16 Jan. 1997.
study on male smokers [4], the supplementation-of ~-caro-
tene was unexpectedly associated with a significant 18%
increase in lung cancer incidence. One study in the U.S.A.
[6] on smokers, former smokers and workers exposed to
asbestos found a 28% increase in the risk of" lung cancer in
the group treated with a combination of ~-caroten¢ and reti-
nol, while in the study on male physicians [5], involving
both smokers and non-smokers, no association was found
between lung cancer and ~rotene supplementation.
However, since both prospective and retrospective observa-
tional studies continue to suggest that ~ncrcased vegetable
and fruit intake is associated with reduced risk of lung can-
cer, the hypothesis that vegetables and fruits may exert a
protective effect by a mechanism that does not involve ~-
carotene should be maintained.
While many studies on lung cancer have been carried out
on men, few have focused on women. We present the
1256
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This article is for individual use only and may not be further reproduced or stored electronically
without written permission ti~om the copyright holder,
Unauthorized reproduction may result in financial and other penalities. (c) PERGAMON-ELSEVIER
SCIENCE L'I'D

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Vegetables, Fruits and Lung Cancer in Women
1257
results of a case-control study on women in Barcelona,
Spain, regarding the relationship between lung cancer and
dietary factors~ focusing on several types of vegetables and
fruits. Although cigarette smoking is the main determinant
of lung cancer, more knowledge of other possible factors
may lead to a better understanding of the causes of the dis-
ease and to improvement in preventive strategies.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A hospital-based case-control study was carried out
between 1989 and 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. A detailed
description of the population, methods and results regarding
smoking habit has been reported previously [7]. Briefly,
from 114 potential cases (women newly diagnosed with a
primary lung neoplasm) identified during the study period,
103 were finaLiy included, among whom 101 had histologi-
cal confirmation; the mean age was 63 years with a range of
32-88 years. Two controls per case were included, matched
by age, residence and hospital; 7 women selected as valid
controls refused to participate and were replaced. Women
admitted for tobacco-related conditions were excluded from
selection as controls. The distribution of controls by pri-
mary diagnosis included 36% with trauma and other mus-
culoskeletal conditions, mainly hip and other fractures, 20%
with diseases of the digestive tract, mainly, surgical con-
' ditions such as hernia and acute colecistitis, 14% with
turnouts (excluding tobacco-related) and 6% with disorders
of the genitourinary system; other groups with frequencies
below 5% included circulatory system, respiratory system,
skin, nervous system and blood and haematopoietic tissues.
The information was collected by personal interview during
the hospitalisation of the subject, by specially trained inter-
viewers.
Diet was assessed by means of a food frequency question-
naire which ascertained the usual frequency of consumption
1 year before the onset of the illness. The questionnaire
included 33 items (foods or groups of foods), selected in
order to include all the relevant foods regarding vegetables,
~aits, da/ry products and other animal products, which are
the main sources of rednol, ~carotene and vitamin (2 in the
population under study. For each item, the subject was
asked to choose one of the I0 categories of frequency of
consumption of a standard serving or standard unit (pro-
posed in the questionnaire), ranging from never (less than
once per year) to four or more times per day. For foods
with known seasonal variability, the frequency was referred
to the period of the year when they are usually consumed.
The weekly frequency of consumption was estimated by
transforming each category of frequency reported in the
questionnaire to times per week, taking into account the
seasonal variation of some foods. The dai/y consumption of
each food item was obtained by dividing its weekly fre-
quency by seven, and multiplying it by the weight in grams
of the standard unit or serving proposed for this particular
food. The daily consumption for a group was obtained by
aggregating the consumption of components of this group.
The comparisons of the daily intake of foods or groups of
foods were carried out by comparing the means of intake of
cases and controls using the non-paired t-test, after the log-
arithmic transformation of variables. Estimations of odds
ratios (OR) and confidence intervals (CI) were carried out
by means of conditional logistic regression for matched
case-control studies [8]. The results axe presented by ter-
Kles of consumption based on the distribution of controls,
taking the lowest tertile as the reference category. A chi-
squaxed test for linear trend in increasing or decreasing risk
with increasing intake was obtained by fitting a model with
a single term for the variable coded as 1, 2 or 3 according
to the subject's terdle of intake [8]. The categorical analysis
was also carried out with tertiles based on the overall distri-
bution of cases and controls, and the test for trend was car-
tied out using the median of each tertile instead of an
indicator variable; these results did not appreciably differ
from results of above-mentioned analysis and are not pre-
sented. In order to con~xol the potential confounding effect
of cigarette smoking, the smoking status (never, former and
current smokers), and total pack-years smoked by ever smo-
kers were included in the model. Statistical significance was
always set at 0.05 and confidence intervaIs were set at 95%.
Table 1. Daily intake (grams) of s~et~ foods and groups of foods among women
Cases (n = 103) Controls
(n = 206)
Foods and groups of foods* Mean (SD)
Mean (SD) P value~"
Animal origin
Liver 3.09 (5.10)
2.90 (5.64) 0.55
Non-dairy product~ 107.60 (50.17)
118.39 (74.22) 0.34
Daky products 366.40 (226.54)
408.14 (257.72) 0.23
Vegetables
Leafy green 82.29 (57.42)
90.43 (56.95) 0.049
Dark green 155.26 (85.24)
176.66 (106.20) 0.10
Yellow/orange 13.85 (14.70)
19.86 (20.07) 0.043
Tomatoes 62.81 (63.85)
66.59 (48.80) 0.27
Cruciferous 13.74 (18.03)
19.06 (31.06) 0.16
Vegetables (overall) 328.05 (150.38)
349.00 (168.31) 0.29
Fruits
Citrus firuits 59.93 (47.00)
57.16 (46.19) 0.45
Other fresh fruits 130.26 (99.35)
126.66 (83. I0) 0.96
Fresh fruits (ovexall) 190.19 (128.41 )
183.81 (113.56) 0.82
*See Appendix for the composition of groups.
~'For non-paired t-test, after Iog~ transformation of the variables.
O
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1258
A. Agndo e~ aL
RESULTS
Table 1 shows the dally consumption of some foods and
groups of foods. Cases consumed less vegetables than con°
trois for all single foods or groups studied, the difference
being significant for the leafy green and yellow/orange veg-
etables. The cases consumed less dairy and non-daizy ani-
mal products and more fruits than controls, but the
differences were non-significant.
A tendency to reduction/n risk with increasing intake of
all groups of vegetables was observed CI'able 2). A high con-
sumption of yellow/orange vegetables and tomatoes (highest
versus lowest textile) appeared to be significantly associated
with a reduction in risk of lung cancer, showing a significant
linear trend as well. Apart from statistical significance, the
pattern of reduction in risk with increased intake of veg-
etables was consistent for all kinds and groups of vegetables.
No association was observed with animal products or ~its,
although some tendency to increased tisk was apparent for
the high consumption of liver and with increased intake of
fru/ts. However, none of the ORs nor the I/near tread were
statistically significant for fruits or animal products.
Given the small number of ~ver smokers and cases with
sqnamous, small cell or other types, we carried out separate
analyses only for adenocarcinoma and never smokers
(Table 3). Regarding vegetables, the results were very siml-
iar to those found for the whole group for non-smoking
women and for adenocarcinoma, although for the latter sub-
group there was a significant reduced risk with increased
intake of dark green vegetables and the assodation with
tomatoes was lower. In these analyses the fertile cut-off
points were ~-established on the basis of the vegetable con-
sumption of non-smoker controls or controls matched to
cases o'f adenocarcinoma type.
DISCUSSION
Our results agree with the previous evidence regarding
the protective effect of high intake of vegetables in relation
to lung cancer in women. Although statistical significance
was reached onl~ for yellow/orang~ vegetables and tomatoes,
all other groups (dark green, leafy green and cruciferous), as
well as atl vegetables combined showed a tendency to
decreased risk with increased intake. No such effect was
observed for fresh fruits; in fact there appeared to be a pod-
tire, although non-significant association, with fresh fruits,
including dtrns and non-citrus. Regarding foods of animal
origin which are common sources of retinol, there was not a
clear pattern: while liver seemed m be positively associated
with lung cancer, an inverse association with dairy and non-
dais/products was suggested, neither of them being statisti-
cally significant.
Many observational studies have reported results on the
assodation between lung cancer and consumption of veg-
etables and fruits. Taken together, eight cohort studies [9-
16] and 21 case-control studies [17-37] suggest that there
is an inverse association b~ween the risk of lung cancer and
vegetable and f~it intake. Among eight prospective studies,
six [9-11, 13, 14, 16] repotted an inverse association with
some groups of vegetables, but only one [16] observed a sig=
nificant trend; two studies [12, 15] reported no association
or inconsistent results. Regarding fruits, two prospective sin-
dies [12, 13] observed a significant inverse association with
fruits, the latter restricted to non-smokers; one study [9] did
not study fruits, three [10, 15, 16] reported invesse but
non=significant association, while two [11, 14,] reported a
positive, although non-significant association. A significant
decreased risk of lung cancer with increased intake of some
vegetables wa~ found in 14 case-comxol studies [17-20, 22,
26, 27, 31-37], while in another five [21, 23-25) 30] the
inverse association did not reach statistical significance and
two [28, 29] showed no assodadon. Sixteen case-cuntrol
studies reported results on the relationship between lung
cancer and some kind of fruits: nine studies found an
inverse relationship, statistically significant in six [24, 25,
29, 32, 33, 37] and non-significant in three [19, 31, 35];
four studies found no assodation or inconsistent results [22,
26, 27, 30], and three reported a positive non-significant
sociation [2~, 28, 34].
The effect of vegetables in reducing lung cancer risk has
been mainly attr~uted to ~carotenc; the high provitamin A
activity, as well as the anti-oxidant effect, have bexm pro-
posed as potential mechanisms of action of ~carotene on
carcinogenesis. However, there arc many substances in veg-
Tabl~ 2. Risk of lung cancee in women, by level of food intake in g,m'l~s. ORs and 95% CI by
conditional logistic regression,
adjusted for smoking status ~and total pack-years smoked
Lcvd of intake (tc~es)
Foods and groups of foods* Low Medium High
P for tread
Animal origin
Liver 1 0.80 (0.45-1.40)
1.57 (0.82-3.02) 0.32
Non-dairy p~oducts 1 1.03 (0.57-1.85)
0.72 (0.38-1.35) 0.32
Daityproducts 1 0.81 (0.45-1.46)
0.77 (0.42-1.40) 0.39
Vegetables
Leafy green I 1.12 (0.60-2.09)
0.61 (0.30-1.22) 0.19
Dark gr~m 1 0.73 (0.40-1.3@
0.58 (0.29-1.15) 0.11
Yellow/orange 1 0.83 (0.46-1.49)
0.37 (0.19-0.74) 0.007
Tomatoes I 0.77 (0.43-1.38)
0.45 (0.22-0.91) 0.026
Cmcfferous 1 0.93 (0.52-1.66)
0.54 (0.26-1.13) 0.13
Veg~tablcs (overall) I 0.84 (0.45--1.56)
0.65 (0.32-1.31) 0.23
Citrus f~'uits 1 1.31 (0.67-2.56)
1.43 (0.66-3.13) 0.37
Other Resh R'uits 1 1.45 (0.73-2.87)
1.41 (0.65-3.07) 0.41
Fresh fi'uits (overall) 1 1.32 (0.68-2.54)
1.20 (0.56-2.56) 0.66
*See Appendix for the composition of g~oups.
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Vegetables, Fruits and Lung Cancer in Women
1259
Table 3. Risk of lung cancer in women, by level of intak~ of v, tgaables, according to the
histological ~ (adenocarcinoma) and
smo~in# status (never smokers)
Level of intake (rerfile~)
Vegetables and group~ of
vegetables* Low Medium
High P for trend
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Adenocarcinoma~f
Leafy green 1 0.92 (0.39-2.20)
0.59 (0.24-1.45) 0.26
Dark green 1 0.50 (0.21-1.18) 0.35 (0.13-0.94)
0.03
Yellow/orange i 1.35 (0.59-3.11) 0.24 (0.08-0.71)
0.02
Tomatoes 1 0.85 (0.42-1.76) 0.37 (0.14-1.00)
0.06
Cruci~xous I 0.64 (0.29-1.42) 1.01 (0.40-2.54)
0.85
Vegetables (overall) 1 0.69 (0.30-1.61) 0.62 (0.24--1.60)
0.30
Never smoken:~
Lea~ grin I 1.05 (0.54-2.03)
0.72 (0.35-1.50) 0.41
Dark green I 0.48 (0.24-0.94) 0.57 (0.29-1.13)
0.08
Yellow/orange 1 0.87 (0.46-1.65) 0.35 (0.16-0.74)
0.009
Tomatoes 1 0.66 (0.36-1.21) 0.38 (0.17-0.83)
0.015
Crucif~ous 1 0.88 (0.47-1.64) 0.59 (0.28-1.26)
0.19
Vegetables (overall) 1 0.62 (0.30-1.27) 0.77 (0.38-L56)
0.45
*See Appendix for the composition of groups.
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~'Adenocatcinoma: 53 cases and their 106 matched controls; ORz and 95% CI by conditional logistic
regr~slon, adiusted for the smoking
smms (ever vct$~x~ never ¢,moke~) and total pack-yearn
:~Never smokerg: 80 cases and 150 controls (70 set~ with 1 ca~e and 2 cont~ol~ and 10 se~ with 1
case and 1 control; 20 contzols who
never smoked wer~ excluded from th~s ~ys~s becau~ they were matched to cat~ who were never ~moken).
OR~ (crude) and 95% CI by
conditional logistic ~eg~e~sion. • "
etables, including other ca~otenoids, for which protective
mechanisms have been pos~ated [38]. YeHow/o~e veg-
etables ~ by ~ ~e most ~t so~ of c~t~oids
~ p~tam~ A aed~, ~clu~g ~ as well as
t~e. D~k ~ vege~bl~ ~ ~e main so~ of lute~
and zeox~ (~tophyll c~otenoids) ~out p~t~n
A a~, ~d some of ~em conta~ folate as we~ w~e
lea~ ~ veg~bl~ ~ve m~emte amoun~ of xantophyH
caro~noids. Lycop~e is fo~d ~ tomatoes but it is ~ce
~ o~er co--on veg~abl~, ~d ~¢fferous conta~ ~iol-
~ones, ~u~sinolat~, iso~nate ~d indol~. ~ong
sm~ ~po~g a s~nt ~v~e association of ve~
e~bles ~d l~g c~c~, m~y ~ups or ~du~ foo~
have been found ~o be a~ciaz~: ~en lca~ [16, 31, 33],
c~m ~or ycHow/otan~ vcgetabl~ [1~20, 22, 26,
d~k ~c~ v~ctabl~ [19, 26, 31], ~emus [22, 26, 33]
~d zomazo~ [26]; mosz of ~ ~so reposed asso~a~on
~ tu~ amo~z of vegetable.
~ o~ sm~, ~s~ ate morn ci~s ~ts ~d o~
~zs ~an con~is, al~ou~ ~ff~nces wc~
~z. ~e hi~ ~d m~ homo~eous ~k consumption
in o~ popula~on shoed be token ~o ac~: 42% of
~n~ls consu~ ~ ~m once per day, ~d 30% ~o
or more ~es per day, wi~ s~ p~po~ons for ~ses.
~c~ w~ no sub,ecru ~ ~e catego~ of non~o~umc~ of
~h ~, ci~ ~o~ c~es or consols.
~e ~s~m of o~ study ~ rem~kably ~isten~ ~
p~ous sm~ [16, 26, 27] ~o~g a si~m pmtec-
five effect of v~cmbl~ for l~g ~cer ~ womb, ~d a
non-si~i~c~ ~la~on or no associa~on ~ ~m. ~e
study in Hawaii [26], ~ ad~on zo vcgcmbl~ as a ~up,
fo~d ~ ~vc~e si~n~ association ~ c~ts, ~rk
~en vegemb1~, ~c~cmus and ~omazoes. Tomazoes have
be~ ~c~y reposed ~ a protegee factor for ~gcsfive
~ct ~ce~ [39]. I~ is wo~ no~g ~c consistem effect
vegetables taken as ~ overall ~oup ~ m~y sm~
including the present study. Moreover, some authors expli-
citly compared the effect of foods and nutrients in the same
study. A cohort study on non-smoking women [16] found
an inverse significant association of lung cancer with all veg-
etables and green leafy vegetables, while the inverse associ-
ations with the nurxients vitamia C and l~bcarotene w~ce
non-significant. A case-contsol study on Caucasian men
[19] reported that the invers~ associations with IRng cancer
risk were more pronounced for intakes of vegetables, dark
green and dark ydlow/orange vegetables than for caroten-
oids. ]Finally, a recent pttbHcation [40] re-analysed data
f~om a previous case-control study [26] using newly avail-
able food composition data for g-carotene, ~-carotene and
lutein. The protective effect reposed for vegetable con-
sumption was stzon~er than the effects of the three caroten-
oids, suggesting that-other components of vegetables may
conm~oute to cancer inhibition.
The findings regarding protective dietary factors for lung
cancer have been considered more convincing for males
than females, but this probably rejects the greater number
of studies and larger sample sizes of males. Many early stu-
dies found protective effects primarily in former or current
smokers, with more pronounced reduction in risk in heavy
and long-term smokes. However, the protective effects
from vegetables have been shown in studies including only
women, or With separate results for women [16, 20, 26, 27,
32, 34, 35, 37] and for non-smokers [17, 26, 27, 32, 34,
37]. Another consistent finding from previous studies is that
the protective effect is not restricted to squamous or small
cell lung cancer types, although the association With these
types seems su'onger than with adenocaroinoma. As can be
shown in Table 3 in our study, the results for women who
never smoked or for adanocarcinoma were quite similar to
those found in the whole group.
Some methodological issues must be taken into account.
Our study is a hospital-based study. Some exclusion diag-
0"~

1260
A. Agudo ¢t aL
noses were applied to controls, but these were mainly
tobacco-related condltion~s, the primary objective of our
study. However, a closer examination of individual diagnosis
did not show diagnosis known or suspected of being associ-
ated with the intake of fruits or vegetables. Nine controls
were hospitalised for causes suspected of association with
dietary factors other than vegetables and fruits. The analysis
excluding these controls did not change the patterns of risk
(results not shown). Among previous case-control studies
reviewed, nine [17, 18, 20) 23) 25, 29, 30, 33~ 36] were
hospital based.
Studies on the effect of dietary factors must rely on a
reasonably valid diet assessment. Food fi'cquency question-
naires are reasonably valid to assess the intake of specific
nutrients or groups of foods, and are primarily used to cat-
egorise people by relative rather than absolute intake. We
used a questionnaire very similar to a food frequency ques-
tionnaire validated in Spain; the results from the validation
study showed that it provided a reliable scale for categoris-
ing individuals by level of past nutrient intake [41].
One limitation of food frequency questionnaires is that
they uaxmlly focus on some groups or specific nutrients, and
they do not allow for adjustment of total energy intake or
macronutrients. It would be desirable to adjust for dietary
fat and cholesterol, since both have been proposed as poten-
tial risk factors for lung cancer [3]. Although we did not
cotlect a11 the relevant sources of fat intake, the dairy pro-
ducts and other animal products rich in retinol may be con-
sidered as quite good indicators of the consumpdon of
saturated fa~ Adjusting for these two variables did not
change the ORs for any of the vegetable groups, nor the re-
spective tests for trend (results not shown). These results
are in agreement with previous obset-¢ations showing that,
regarding the relationship of lung cancer risk with vegetables
and dietary fat intake, both associations seem to be indepen-
dent and neither is completely explained by the other [3].
Tobacco smoking is the main determinant of the risk of
lung cancer, so adequate control of confounding by smoking
is crucial in the assessment of the effect of dietary factors. It
has been reported that the consumption of vegetables and
fi'uits is higher in women who never smoked than in current
smokers, and, among smokers, the intake of these foods is
inversely related to the intensity of the smoking habit [42,
43]. In our study [7], 22.3% of cases and 11.2% of controls
had smoked sometime during their lives, resulting in an OR
of 3.1 (95% CI 1.4-6.8); most of them were current smo-
kers with an OR of 3.6 (95% CI 1.6-8.3), and a few of
them were former smokers, with an OR of 1.6 but with a
wide interval because of small numbers. Cigarette smoking
was associated with an increase in risk of 62% for each 10
pack-years (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.2-2.2). We included in
each model one indicator variable for smoking status (never,
former or current smoker), as well as the number of pack-
years for ever smokers. However, we had previously shown
that the smoking habit in our study was measured with
quite high reliability [7], so errors in measurement of the
confounder probably did not bias the effect estimates for
dietary factors. Moreover, a high proportion of our cases
and controls were never smokers, among which no con-
founding effect by active smoking habit should exist, and
results for vegetables in this subgroup (Table 3) were quite
similar to those smoking adjusted.
In conclusion, our study adds to the evidence of the pro-
tective effect of vegetables for lung cancer risk in women.
We found that this prorectinn was significant for the high
intake of carrots and tomatoes, and that this effect seems to
apply to smokers and non-smokers and to all histological
types. Given the results of recent intervention trials, f}-caro-
tene seems not to be associated with lung cancer risk, but
the role of other carotenoids cannot be discarded. Many
other phytochemicals could be involved in lung carcinogen-
esis. Despite our lack of Understanding of underlying mech=
anisms, it seems reasonable to assert that a diet rich in
vegetables may be helpful to reduce the risk of lung cancer,
keeping in mind that quitting smoking must remain the pri-
mary goal for lung cancer prevention.
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Acknowledgement~-This study received financial support f~om
the Spanish Ministry of Health, and from the Iutemar.ional
Agency for Research on" Cancer (Ag~-'ement AEP/87/02). The
authors are gratefol to Coristina Mas for her important work in ~he
study office.
Composition of groups of foods
Dairy products: Milk (whole), milk (d~anmed), cheese, butter, n~r-
garine, yoghurt, cream, cusrsrd,
Non-dairy product~ (animal origin): Liver, offal, fish (fresh and fro-
zen), f~h (canned), chicken, egg~.
Vegetables (overall): Spinach, ch~, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes,
crudferous,* c~rrots, pe~, g~en beans, peppers (red/green),~"
legumes.
Leafy green vegetables: Spinach, chard, lettuce.
Dark green vegetables: Spinach, chard, lettuce, cruciferous, green
bean~, peppers (green).
Yellow/orange vegctables: Carrots, pepper~ (r~d).
Fresh fruits (overall): Citrus,~: apple/pear, melon, peach, apricot,
banana, plum.
Other fresh fruit: Fresh f~aits excluding ci~'u~.
*Cruciferous. They were collected as a single item in the question-
naire, but it referred ~o the overall group; examples memioncd were
cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower.
~'Peppe~ (red/green). In the quesfienn~ire only one generic item
('peppers') was collected, without distinction of both types. It was
~ssumed that the quanriW of each type was the same; a half of the
total amount estimated for peppcr~ was atm~outed ~o green peppers
when computing dark green vegetables, and the other half was
attributed to red peppers when computing yellow/orange vegetables.
~Ci~'us fruits. They were collected ~ a single item in the question-
naire, but it referred to the whole group; examples mentioned were
orange, lemon and tangerine.
