The research appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association
University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center researchers compare the diets of 1,674 lung cancer patients and 1,735 people of similar ages and gender who did not have lung cancer.
BBC Health reports they used food frequency questionnaires to collect data on intake of 12 individual phytoestrogens - the plant-derived compounds believed to have estrogenic properties and which have been shown to protect against some tumors in past studies.
Dr. Kat Arney of Cancer Research UK says, "This research highlights the importance of a healthy diet in preventing cancer, and demonstrates the role that a person's lifestyle plays in the disease. However, it is essential not to forget that nine out of 10 cases of lung cancer and a quarter of all cancer deaths are caused by smoking."
