Do fruits and vegetables raise the risk of cancer because they may contain pesticides?

Researchers followed roughly 180,000 people for 14 years. Those who ate more of the fruits and vegetables that typically have the highest pesticide residues had no higher risk of cancer (including breast, lung, uterine, advanced prostate, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma) than those who ate less.

This kind of study can’t rule out the possibility that something else about the participants explains the results, but the researchers took many factors into account, including smoking, exercise, and cancer screening.

What to do

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables—organic or not—to lower your risk of cancer, as well as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and more.

Environ. Int. 2021. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2021.106744.

Photo: Prot/stock.adobe.com.

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