Gerd Bobe led the study, which was conducted at the Laboratory of Cancer Prevention in the Frederick, Md.-based National Cancer Institute. Results of the research were published in the June issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention (to see an abstract or order a full copy, click here).

"We used the newly created U.S. Department of Agriculture flavonoid database to examine the association between consumption of total flavonoids, six flavonoid subgroups and 29 individual flavonoids," the team said, explaining the difference between its findings and those of previous studies which found no association between flavonoids and colorectal cancer prevention.

"High intake of flavonols, which are at greater concentration in beans, onions, apples and tea, was associated with decreased risk of advanced adenoma recurrence," the report said.