Dietary intake of fruits and vegetables and overall survival in non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Nicholas J. Ollberding, Briseis Aschebrook-Kilfoy, Donne Bennett D. Caces, Sonali M. Smith, Dennis D. Weisenburger, Brian C.-H. Chiu

In a cohort of 301 patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), we examined whether the pre-diagnostic consumption of fruits and vegetables, or of nutrients concentrated in fruits and vegetables, was associated with overall survival (OS). Proportional hazards models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all-cause mortality. A total of 91 deaths occurred in the patient cohort over a median follow-up period of 8.2 years. No association with OS was detected for a dietary pattern characterized by high intakes of fruits, vegetables and starch; fruit intake; vegetable intake; or nutrient intake in patients diagnosed with overall NHL, follicular lymphoma or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Higher intakes of carotene-rich vegetables (HR = 0.4 [0.2-1.0]; p trend = 0.05) and α-carotene (HRT3 vs. T1 = 0.4 [0.2-0.9]; p trend = 0.03) were associated with better OS among ever smokers. Overall, our data suggest that the intake of fruits and vegetables prior to diagnosis is not associated with OS in patients with NHL.