OBJECTIVE:

To investigate whether intake of fruits and vegetables is associated with overall cancer incidence in a large prospective cohort of women in Sweden characterised by young age at enrolment (30-49 years) and relatively low intake of fruits and vegetables.

METHODS:

We followed prospectively 49,261 women, who completed a food frequency questionnaire in 1991-1992. A total of 2,347 incident invasive cancer cases were identified until December 2006. The occurrence of cancer was analysed by fitting Poisson regression models, estimating incidence rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS:

The median intake of fruits and vegetables was 204 g/day (10th; 90th percentile: 37; 564 g/day). Intake of fruits and vegetables was not statistically significantly associated with overall cancer incidence. When we compared women in the highest quintile of fruit and vegetable intake to women in the lowest quintile, the RR for overall cancer was 1.01 (95% CI: 0.88-1.16). Similar results were obtained when investigating the effect of intake of fruits and vegetables separately and when we stratified women by age at follow-up.

CONCLUSION:

Fruit and vegetable intake was not associated with risk of total cancer in this prospective cohort of women in Sweden.