“Our research shows that young non-smokers who eat higher amounts of healthy foods than the general population are more likely to develop lung cancer,” Niva said in a press release.
But Lurant and others immediately pointed out problems. First, there is no control group, which should consist of a similar group of non-smoking adults under the age of 50 who do not have lung cancer. “This finding may simply reflect the fact that younger people, or non-smokers, tend to have healthier diets than the general population,” Lurant said.
Many studies over the years, including meta-analyses and pooled studies, have shown that eating fruits and vegetables either reduces the risk of lung cancer or has no effect.
In addition, Peter Shields, MD, professor emeritus of medical oncology at Ohio State University, said that leanness — which a person can have on a diet heavy in fruits, vegetables and whole grains — is thought to be related to lung cancer. “The writers probably couldn’t see much more than that.” Shields also called the mutation groups “arbitrary” and that it is unclear whether they have overlapping carcinogenic pathways.
“And, even more important,” he adds, “the role of pesticides is entirely hypothetical.” Shields concluded that “the well-known benefits of eating fruits and vegetables…far outweigh any speculation of data interpretation from this study.”
Lurant was equally dismissive of the study, saying it was a “stretch” to link lung cancer to specific food groups, let alone the pesticides that may or may not be on them. They said, “Overall, this summary provides little evidence of an association between diet and lung cancer, let alone a causal relationship, and provides no meaningful support for the claims regarding pesticides.”
<a href