'Healthy Foods' May Be Linked to Lung Cancer in Young Non-Smokers

A diet high in "healthy foods" like fruits, vegetables and whole grains has been linked to an increased risk of non-smokers developing lung cancer, due to residual pesticides that are used on crops.

"There is an emerging, under-appreciated literature that produce-based whole foods often contain high pesticide/herbicide contaminants," the abstract for the research, which was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting on April 21, said. 

It's those contaminants that researchers say may be driving an increase in lung cancer. “Our research shows that younger non-smokers who eat a higher quantity of healthy foods than the general population are more likely to develop lung cancer,” Dr. Jorge Nieva, a medical oncologist and lung cancer specialist with University of Southern California Norris and lead investigator of the study, said in a report from Keck Medicine of USC. “These counter-intuitive findings raise important questions about an unknown environmental risk factor for lung cancer related to otherwise beneficial food that needs to be addressed.”  

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Researchers surveyed 187 patients, who were diagnosed with lung cancer by age 50, for the Epidemiology of Young Lung Cancer Project, and found that the participants ate a diet much higher in whole grains, fruits and vegetables than the general population. Using the Healthy Eating Index (which measures the "healthy" quality of a person's diet), they found that the average participant had a score of 65 out of 100; the average American has a score of 57, and women, on average, ate healthier diets than men.

As the research notes, young non-smoking women are now more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer than men.

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Dr. Nieva said next, they will test the participants' blood or urine to measure levels of pesticides in their systems — and work to identify if any pesticides are more likely to be linked to cancer.

“This work represents a critical step toward identifying modifiable environmental factors that may contribute to lung cancer in young adults," Dr. Nieva said. “Our hope is that these insights can guide both public health recommendations and future investigation into lung cancer prevention.”