Plant-rich diet may reduce lung cancer risk: study

Cancer that begins in the lungs and most often occurs in people who smoke. Two major types of lung cancer are non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer. Causes of lung cancer include smoking, second-hand smoke, exposure to certain toxins and family history. Symptoms include a cough (often with blood), chest pain, wheezing and weight loss. These symptoms often don't appear until the cancer is advanced. Treatments vary but may include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted drug therapy and immunotherapy.

Anthocyanidins are a kind of water-soluble flavonoids widely found in flowers and fruits of many plants. Although the beneficial effect of anthocyanidins in cancer prevention has been discussed, the value of anthocyanidins in lung cancer prevention requires further investigation. In this study, the researchers aimed to explore the role of dietary anthocyanidins in the prevention of lung cancer in population-based prospective studies.

Data of participants in this study were collected from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated in Cox proportional hazards regression for the association of dietary anthocyanidins and lung cancer risk. The dose-response relationship was explored between total anthocyanidins and the incidence of lung cancer.

Results:

• A total of 97,993 participants were included in this study.
• The calculated HRs showed a trend that a higher quartile of total anthocyanidins indicated lower risk of lung cancer after adjusting for covariates
• A non-linear association between total anthocyanidins and lung cancer risk was found in the restricted cubic spline model.

Thus, a protective association between dietary anthocyanidins and risk of lung cancer in Americans was investigated.

Reference:

Zhang Y, Zhu M, Wan H, Chen L, Luo F. Association between Dietary Anthocyanidins and Risk of Lung Cancer. Nutrients. 2022 Jun 26;14(13):2643. doi: 10.3390/nu14132643. PMID: 35807824; PMCID: PMC9268346.

Keywords:

anthocyanidins; dose-response analysis; lung cancer, Yin Zhang, Min Zhu, Huajing Wan, Ling Chen, Fengming Luo, nutrients