a change of diet to include lots of different fruits and veggies

Research recently released shows smokers who consume a large mix of fruit and vegetables are less likely to suffer from lung cancer. This study which was led by Dr. Bas Bueno de Mesquita, the project director of cancer epidemiology based at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Holland should be of interest to not only smokers but also those who don't smoke but who often consume secondhand smoke.

Dr. Bas Bueno de Mesquita was quick to observe that the best way to lower the likelihood of suffering from lung cancer was obviously to quit smoking and that smokers must not think that they were somehow immune to lung cancer because they ate fruit and vegetables on a regular basis. Nevertheless if you are a smoker and you really can't quit, this recent research should compel you to a change of diet to include lots of different fruits and veggies.

For the study more than 450,000 people from 10 different European nations had their medical records looked at.  The volunteers filled out detailed questionnaires which gave information about their eating habits and lifestyles and listed 40 different varieties of fruit and veg. Smoking habits, alcohol use, the amount of physical activity and even occupations were noted.

The volunteers were divided into four groups depending on the variety of different vegetables in their diet and it was seen that those smokers in the group who ate the most amount of fruit and vegetables had a 27 percent lower likelihood of getting lung cancer than those smokers who ate the least amount.  In all over 1,600 of the volunteers were diagnosed with lung cancer.

Dr. Bas Bueno de Mesquita stressed that scientists were not 100 percent sure exactly why fruits and veggies helped to lower rates of lung cancer but it is likely the combination of different bioactive compounds taken into the body by consuming them helps to protect it.

The research was published in the clinical journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.