Women Who Eat Lots of Fruits,Vegetables May Have Lower Bladder Cancer Risk

Women who eat more fruits and vegetables may lower their risk of developing invasive bladder cancer, according to new research at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center.

Researchers at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center state fruits and vegetable have the capacity to reduce the risk of invasive bladder cancer in women. The long-term study, which began in 1993, researcher Song-Yi Park and colleagues analyzed data collected from 185,885 older adults over a period of 12 and a half years. During this period, 581 cases of invasive bladder cancer were diagnosed (152 women and 429 men).

The team's findings are published in the August issue of The Journal of Nutrition. 

Park and her team discovered that while consumption of fruits and vegetables was not associated with the incidence of bladder cancer in men, women who consumed the most fruits and vegetables had the lowest bladder cancer risk. In particular, women who consumed the most yellow-orange vegetables were 52 percent less likely to develop bladder cancer than those who consumed the least amount of such foods.

"Our study supports the fruit and vegetable recommendation for cancer prevention," Park said in a statement. "However, further investigation is needed to understand and explain why the reduced cancer risk with higher consumption of fruits and vegetables was confined to only women."

Furthermore, women with the highest intake of vitamins A, C and E had the lowest risk of bladder cancer.

No associations between fruit and vegetable intake and invasive bladder cancer were found in men.