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Tomatoes may lower cancer risk according to a new study.
Two servings a week can protect against prostate tumors: study Spaghetti sauce appeared to give the most protection
against cancer, the study found.
MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
March 5 — The stuff that makes tomatoes red may help lower the risk of prostate cancer. In a new study, men who ate a
diet rich in tomato sauce, ketchup or other tomato-based products containing the powerful antioxidant known as lycopene were up to one third
less likely to develop the disease.
'Spaghetti sauce was the most popular' and also seemed to give the most protection.
— DR. EDWARD GIOVANNUCCI
Harvard School of Public Health
RESEARCHERS analyzed the food choices and prostate cancer histories of more than 47,000 men and found that those who ate at least two meals a week containing tomato products lowered their risk of prostate cancer by 24
to 36 percent.
Dr. Edward Giovannucci of Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health, the first author of the study, said it supports earlier research
involving foods,
particularly tomato products, that were high in lycopene.
"These most recent finding add support to the notion that a diet rich in tomatoes and lycopene-containing foods,
as well as
other fruits and vegetables, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer," said Giovannucci.
A natural antioxidant related to vitamin A, lycopene produces the red color
in tomatoes. Like all antioxidants, the plant chemical sops up the oxygen-free radicals that can damage DNA, leading to cancer, according Dr. Omer Kucuk of the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit.
A report on the study appears Wednesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The new analysis is part of the Health
Professional Follow-Up Study, a project that followed the health history and dietary habits of 47,000 men, aged 40 to 75, from 1986 to 1998. During that period, 2,481 of the men developed prostate
cancer. Dietary questionnaires in the study asked about consumption of such food items as tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato juice, pizza, watermelon and pink grapefruit, along with salsa, ketchup and
other tomato-based condiments.
COOKING BEST
When the data was adjusted for the effects of other life style factors, the researchers
found that tomatoes, particularly those that had been cooked, were beneficial against prostate cancer.
"Spaghetti sauce was the most
popular" and also seemed to give the most protection, said Giovannucci. He said that cooking raw tomatoes, as is done to make spaghetti sauce, may
break down cell walls of the fruit and allow the body to absorb more of the lycopene.
Giovannucci emphasized that tomato-based products should be only a small part of a
well-rounded diet that includes other fruits and vegetables and avoids an excess of fats.
Jo Ann Carson, a clinical nutritionist at the
University of Texas, Southwest Medical Center in Dallas, said the study "is an example that what we eat can affect our risk of cancer."
The study also supports the idea that foods
rich in antioxidants, rather than vitamin pills, provide the most cancer protection, she said.
"Eating the whole foods seems to give a beneficial combination that would be lacking
in supplements," Carson said.
Plus, tomatoes are non-toxic, noted Dr. Frank Raucher of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia.
A diet rich in tomatoes could benefit just about everyone, said Kucuk, whose own work has shown that lycopene may actually shrink prostate tumors. Studies indicate that
lycopene appears to
protect against cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum and cervix, he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
