A new study from USC researchers found an association between healthier diets containing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and higher rates of early onset (or young-onset) lung cancer in nonsmokers.
The researchers believe that pesticide residue may be a possible explanation for this association, and not healthy foods themselves, and plan to investigate it further.
They also found a similar association with women who take oral contraceptives.
While cancer in the United States has declined significantly since 1990, incidence trends have been more nuanced. New lung cancer cases have fallen in men since the mid-1980s and in women since the mid-2000s, declining annually by 3.0% and 1.4%, respectively, from 2012 to 2021.
However, while overall incidence has gone down, researchers are concerned about a different trend: increasing lung cancer rates in younger nonsmokers, especially women.
Researchers in the new study utilized data from the Epidemiology of Young Lung Cancer case study to examine this trend more closely. They found a surprising association between healthier eating patterns and early onset lung cancer among nonsmokers.
This finding is only an association, however, and does not prove that eating vegetables, fruits, or whole grains causes cancer. The authors suspect environmental factors may contribute to this.
The researchers presented the study findings at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting.
