Eating More Fruits and Vegetables Tied to Unexpected Lung Cancer Risk

Eating plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains is widely recommended to improve health and reduce the risk of cancer and other diseases.

But new findings from USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Keck Medicine of USC, suggest there may be an unexpected risk for a specific group. Research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research indicates that non-smoking Americans under age 50 who follow healthier diets could face a higher risk of developing lung cancer.

“Our research shows that younger non-smokers who eat a higher quantity of healthy foods than the general population are more likely to develop lung cancer,” said Jorge Nieva, MD, a medical oncologist and lung cancer specialist with USC Norris and lead investigator of the study. “These counter-intuitive findings raise important questions about an unknown environmental risk factor for lung cancer related to otherwise beneficial food that needs to be addressed.”