Burden of cancer attributable to insufficient vegetable, fruit and dietary fiber consumption in Japan in 2015

Consumption of vegetables, fruit and dietary fiber is closely associated with cancer incidence and mortality in the population, especially under conditions of insufficient consumption. We estimated the fraction of cancer incidence and mortality in 2015 attributable to insufficient consumption of vegetables, fruit and dietary fiber in the Japanese population. Consumption of vegetables, fruit and dietary fiber in grams per day, by sex and age group, is available for 2005 from the Japanese National Health and Nutrition Survey. Optimal consumption of vegetables and fruits for this study was assumed to be over 350g and 100g/day, respectively. Optimal consumption of dietary fiber was defined by age group according to the Dietary Reference consumption for Japanese. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were estimated for each sex and age group according to a standard formula, and aggregated to obtain the PAF among total cancer incidence and mortality. Insufficient consumption of vegetables, fruit, and dietary fiber contributed 0.2%, 0.1% and 1.0% of all cancer incidence, and 0.2%, 0.1% and 0.9% of cancer mortality, respectively. The results of this study may provide useful evidence in reducing the cancer burden attributable to insufficient consumption of vegetables, fruit and dietary fiber in Japan.