'Weak' foods reduce risk of cancer.

• Position: Smoking

Eating vegetables and other foods that have weak estrogen-like activity appears to reduce the risk of developing lung cancer in smokers--and nonsmokers--say researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. Investigators report that study participants who ate the highest amount of foods with dietary "phytoestrogens" have a 46% reduced risk of developing lung cancer, compared to those who ate the lowest quantity.

The researchers also found gender specific benefits for different classes of phytoestrogens. Men who ate the highest amount of soy-isoflavins lowered their risk of developing lung cancer by 72%, and women who ate the most fruit and vegetables by 41%. For those women who also use hormone replacement therapy, this protective effect is enhanced further.

"What we have found is Intriguing and supports a small but growing body of evidence that suggests estrogenic-like compounds in food may help protect against development of lung and other cancers, but these kinds of studies, which rely on a person's recall of the food they have eaten months before, have known limitations and require more investigation," cautions Matthew Schabath, a postdoctoral researcher In the Department of Epidemiology.

As promising as they are, the study results should not be seen as a license to continue smoking while increasing consumption of vegetables...