Eating fruit and vegetables to ward off cancer has a "modest" effect at best, according to a new study.
Research on almost 500,000 people found eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day (about 400g) had little effect on cancer risk, as did eating more or fewer portions.
While there is evidence of a "small" protective effect of fruit and vegetables, the chance that a reduced risk could be caused by something else cannot be ruled out, the researchers said.
Experts analysed data from 23 centres in ten European countries who were part of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). In the UK, centres at Cambridge and Oxford were included in the study, which looked at cancer risk between 1992 and 2000.
People's daily consumption of fruit, vegetables and fruit and vegetables combined was analysed and matched against data on the number of cancers. The results showed that regardless of which group people were in, if everyone ate an extra 200g of fruit and vegetables a day, the overall reduced risk of cancer was 3 per cent.
The findings contradict a 1997 report from the World Cancer Research Fund which said there was "convincing evidence" of a protective effect against respiratory and digestive cancers from eating large amounts of fruit and vegetables.
