Researcher Song-Yi Park of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center and colleagues discovered recently that the consumption of a greater amount of fruits and vegetables might actually lower the risk of invasive bladder cancer in women. Invasive cancer cases are those where the disease spreads beyond the organ where it originated.

The conducted investigation was part of the Multiethnic Cohort Study (MEC), started in 1993 to assess the relationship between diet, lifestyle, genetics and cancer risk. Dr. Park and her team of fellow researchers analyzed data that was collected over a 12.5 year period from 185,885 older adults. Of the total number of older adults data was collected from, 581 received a diagnosis for bladder cancer. More than 150 those were women and 429 were men.

Researchers followed the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registries of California and Hawaii through 2007 to determine the number of bladder cancer cases diagnosed among the group.

After adjustments for variables related to cancer risk, such as age and smoking, the researchers discovered that women who consumed more fruit and vegetables had the lowest risk of bladder cancer. Women consuming the largest amount of yellow-orange vegetables were 52 percent less likely to develop the cancer than women consuming the smallest amounts. The data collected also suggested that women with a higher intake of Vitamin A, C and E also had a lower risk of developing bladder cancer. There was no association found between the consumption of fruits and vegetables and bladder cancer risk in men.

“Our study supports the fruit and vegetable recommendation for cancer prevention,” said Park. “However, further investigation is needed to understand and explain why the reduced cancer risk with higher consumption of fruits and vegetables was confined to only women.”

According to the American Cancer Society, 72,570 adults will receive a diagnosis of bladder cancer this year alone. Of that estimate, 54,610 will be men and 17,960 will be women.

This study can be found in The Journal of Nutrition.