Intakes of fruits, vegetables, and related nutrients and the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among women

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is etiologically related to suppressed immune status , and certain nutrients found in fruits and vegetables have been associated with increased immune responses. However, limited information exists on as sociations between intake of fruits, vegetables, and related nutrients and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma risk. We thus examined these associations among 88,4 10 women in the Nurses' Health Study cohort who were aged 34-60 years in 19 80 and provided dietary information in 1980. During 14 years of follow-up, we documented 199 incident cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Higher intake o f fruits and vegetables was associated with a lower risk of non-Hodgkin's l ymphoma (P for trend = 0.02); the multivariate relative risk (RR) was 0.62 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.38-1.02] for women who consumed greater th an or equal to six servings per day as compared with those consuming less t han three servings per day. When fruits and vegetables were examined separa tely, intake of vegetables rather than fruits was most clearly associated w ith a reduced risk (P for trend = 0.02 for vegetables; P for trend = 0.16 f or fruits); compared with those consuming less than one serving per day, th e multivariate RRs were 0.62 (95% CI, 0.35-1.07) for women who consumed gre ater than or equal to three servings per day of vegetables and 0.70 (95% CI , 0.44-1.12) for women who consumed this amount of fruits. Higher intake of cruciferous vegetables was also associated with a decreased risk (P for tr end = 0.03); the multivariate RR was 0.67 (95% CI, 0.40-1.11) for women who consumed greater than or equal to five servings per week as compared with those consuming less than two servings per week. These associations were sl ightly attenuated when we additionally adjusted for intake of beef, pork, o r lamb as a main dish. Intake of dietary fiber from vegetable sources was r elated to a reduced risk; the multivariate RR was 0.54 (95% CI, 0.34-0.87) for women in the highest quintile as compared with those in the lowest quin tile (P for trend = 0.01), and it was slightly attenuated with additional a djustment for saturated and trans unsaturated fats. However, we observed no associations between intakes of specific dietary carotenoids, vitamins A, C, E, and folate, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma risk. Higher intake of vegetab les, particularly cruciferous vegetables, may reduce the risk of non-Hodgki n's lymphoma among women.