Study: Diet with fiber & yogurt may reduce lung cancer risk

A study published in "JAMA Oncology" by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center shows that a diet rich in fiber and yogurt can reduce the risk of lung cancer.

The benefits of high-fiber diets and yogurt for cardiovascular disease and gastrointestinal cancer have been proven. The new discovery is based on analysis of research data from 1.4 million adults in the United States, Europe and Asia, suggesting that this diet may also prevent lung cancer.

Participants were divided into five groups based on the amount of fiber and yogurt ingested. Compared with the group that did not drink yogurt and consumed the least fiber, the group that consumed the most yogurt and fiber reduced the risk of lung cancer by 33%.

"Our research provides strong evidence for the recommendation of high-fiber and yogurt diets in the US Dietary Guidelines 2015-2020," Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center's co-head of the Cancer Epidemiology Research Program, deputy director of global health, Shu Xiao-Ou, professor of cancer research, medical doctor, master of public health, and senior author of the study said.

She added: "This negative correlation is very obvious, whether it is present, past, never smokers, or men, women and people of different backgrounds."

Shu said the health benefits of probiotics may stem from their prebiotics (indigestible foods that promote the growth of beneficial microbes in the gut) and probiotic properties. These characteristics may independently or synergistically regulate the intestinal flora in a beneficial manner.

The first authors of this study were visiting researcher Dr. Jae Jeong Yang from Seoul National University in South Korea and Dr. Danxia Yu, assistant medical professor at Vanderbilt University.