Habitual consumption of diets loaded with fruits and vegetables may help inhibit the development and growth of cancerous cells and tumors in the esophagus and stomach.
This study evaluated the correlation between fruit and vegetable intake and the odds of developing esophageal and gastric cancer. Researchers estimated the esophageal and gastric cancer risk and tracked the fruit and vegetable consumption rate of 120,852 men and women recruited from the Netherland Cohort Study.
The team of investigators observed that high dietary ingestion of fruits and vegetables reduced the risk of developing specific subtypes of esophageal and gastric cancer, such as esophageal adenocarcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, gastric cardia adenocarcinoma, and gastric non cardia adenocarcinoma. Raw vegetables, brasicca vegetables, and citrus fruits were found to lower the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma, gastric cardia carcinoma, and both types of cancer respectively. The findings of this study show that consistent consumption of fruits and vegetables may be beneficial in the prevention of gastric and esophageal cancer.