Jorge\u00a0Nieva, MD<\/a>, a medical oncologist and lung cancer specialist\u00a0with\u00a0USC\u00a0Norris and\u00a0lead investigator of the study.\u00a0\u201cThese counter-intuitive findings\u00a0raise\u00a0important questions\u00a0about\u00a0an\u00a0unknown environmental risk factor\u00a0for lung cancer\u00a0related to otherwise\u00a0beneficial food\u00a0that needs to be addressed.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nNieva and his fellow researchers\u00a0speculate\u00a0that\u00a0this\u00a0risk factor may be the pesticides used to\u00a0keep crops pest-free.\u00a0Commercially produced (non-organic) fruits,\u00a0vegetables and whole grains are more likely to be associated with a higher residue of pesticides than dairy,\u00a0meat\u00a0and many processed foods,\u00a0according to\u00a0Nieva.\u00a0He also notes that agricultural workers exposed to\u00a0pesticides typically have higher rates of lung cancer, which\u00a0adds credence to the theory.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The study also showed that young women who\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0smoke have a higher incidence of lung cancer than men, and that women tended to also have a\u00a0diet higher in produce and whole grains than men.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A\u00a0New\u00a0Epidemic of Lung Cancer\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lung cancer\u00a0has typically been a disease that affects older\u00a0adults\u00a0(the average age of lung cancer\u00a0onset\u00a0is 71),\u00a0men more than women, and smokers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smoking rates have fallen\u00a0since the mid-1980s, which has led to fewer lung cancer cases\u00a0across the United States,\u00a0except for one unique group\u00a0\u2014\u00a0non-smokers\u00a0age\u00a050\u00a0and younger,\u00a0especially\u00a0women, who are now more likely to get lung cancer than men.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
To investigate this\u00a0trend,\u00a0researchers\u00a0launched the Epidemiology of Young Lung Cancer Project, which\u00a0surveyed\u00a0187 patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer by age\u00a050. Patients provided details\u00a0on\u00a0demographics, diet, smoking\u00a0history\u00a0and lung cancer diagnosis.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most patients had never smoked and had\u00a0a form of\u00a0lung\u00a0cancer\u00a0biologically different\u00a0from\u00a0lung cancer\u00a0caused by smoking.\u00a0A\u00a02021\u00a0study\u00a0from\u00a0the Epidemiology\u00a0of Young\u00a0Lung Cancer\u00a0Project,\u00a0the Genomics of Young Lung Cancer Project,\u00a0found\u00a0that the subtypes of lung cancer seen in people\u00a0under 40\u00a0were distinct from lung cancer in older adults.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Researchers used the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), a\u00a0ranking of the overall quality of\u00a0Americans\u2019\u00a0diet\u00a0on a scale of 1-100,\u00a0to compare patients\u2019 diets with\u00a0the broader United States\u00a0population.\u00a0Young\u00a0non-smoking\u00a0lung cancer patients\u00a0had an average HEI score of 65 out of 100, compared to the national average of 57.\u00a0Among\u00a0participants in the study, women had higher HEI scores than men.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On average,\u00a0the young lung cancer patients\u00a0ate more daily servings of fruit,\u00a0vegetables\u00a0and whole grains than the general population. For example,\u00a0participants averaged\u00a04.3 servings\u00a0of dark green vegetable and legumes\u00a0and 3.9 servings of whole grains per day,\u00a0while the average U.S. adult eats\u00a03.6 servings\u00a0of dark green vegetables and legumes\u00a0and\u00a02.6 servings\u00a0of whole grains per day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More Research Needed\u00a0<\/p>\n
The link\u00a0between pesticides and lung cancer in young people, especially women, needs more research, said Nieva.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the study, researchers\u00a0did not test specific foods for pesticides. Instead, they\u00a0used published data on\u00a0average\u00a0pesticide levels\u00a0for food categories such as fruits,\u00a0vegetables\u00a0and grains to\u00a0estimate exposure. The next step, said Nieva,\u00a0is to confirm the\u00a0link\u00a0by directly measuring\u00a0pesticide\u00a0levels\u00a0in\u00a0blood or urine\u00a0samples from patients.\u00a0This\u00a0could\u00a0also help\u00a0reveal whether\u00a0or not\u00a0some pesticides increase lung cancer risk more than others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis work\u00a0represents\u00a0a critical step\u00a0toward\u00a0identifying\u00a0modifiable environmental factors that may contribute to lung cancer in young\u00a0adults,” said\u00a0Nieva.\u00a0\u201cOur hope is that these insights can guide both public health recommendations and future\u00a0investigation\u00a0into lung cancer prevention.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The research\u00a0is supported by\u00a0the\u00a0Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute,\u00a0a nonprofit focused on advancing lung cancer research and care, as well as\u00a0AstraZeneca, the Beth\u00a0Longwell\u00a0Foundation, Genentech, GO2 for Lung Cancer and Upstage Lung Cancer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Researchers also received funding from the National Institutes of Health, grant number\u00a0R25CA225513\u00a0and\u00a0the National Cancer Institute, grant number\u00a0P30CA014089.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES\u00a0\u2014\u00a0A\u00a0diet rich in fruit,\u00a0vegetables\u00a0and whole grains\u00a0is\u00a0generally recommended\u00a0for\u00a0better health\u00a0and\u00a0to\u00a0lower\u00a0the risk of cancer and other diseases.\u00a0\u00a0 However, new research\u00a0from\u00a0USC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[258,103,61,60,177932,7079,106915,177931],"class_list":{"0":"post-403913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-cancer","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-keck-medicine-of-usc","13":"tag-lung-cancer","14":"tag-releases","15":"tag-usc-norris-cancer-hospital"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}