New research from UCLA shows that if you smoke, you may be able to reduce your risk of lung cancer by as much as 50% by increasing your intake of antioxidant flavonoids found in vegetables and tea.
According to researchers, several different types of flavonoids are associated with a reduced risk of lung cancers in smokers. Ready for some specifics? The UCLA study found that a 10 mg per day increase in the favaonoid “epicatechin” reduced the risk by 36%. And here are some more stats, funky names, and numbers: a 4 mg increase in “catechin” intake reduced the risk by 51%, while a 9 mg increase in “quercetin” intake reduced the risk by 35% and a 2 mg increase in “kaempferol” intake reduced the risk by 32%.
Technical, yes, and expert advice is still, of course, to avoid tobacco smoke altogether. So what do these funny words and numeric results mean? Boiled down, the study suggests that smokers could benefit from upping their intake of flavonoid-rich foods including vegetables, tea, red wine and soybeans. Of course, you can get as specific as you want, and research the specific flavanoids and their occurrence in various food, but keeping in mind that flavinoids in general will help you reduce this risk will potentially serve you well, too.
Michael Moshier publishes an anti-aging blog called www.anti-agingstraighttalk.com/blog and contributes a post to this blog every Tuesday. If you would like to read all of his posts, click on the link at the top of this post.
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