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Eating Tomatoes Does Not Fend Off Prostate Cancer Risk |
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Written by Theresa Maher
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Sunday, 20 May 2007 |
An antioxidant called lycopene was thought to play a significant role in preventing prostate cancer risk among men. This antioxidant is abundant in tomatoes and hence it was felt eating tomatoes would reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
A new study refutes these claims and says lycopene has no effect whatsoever on the risk of developing prostate cancer.
In fact the study says that another antioxidant called beta-carotene triples the risk of contacting aggressive prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the United States. It is also the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the country. According to the American Cancer Society, 218,890 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this years and lead to at least 27,050 deaths.
Lycopene belongs to a class of antioxidants that protect cells from the damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals, according to the National Cancer Institute. Scientists have theorized that free radical damage, which increases with age, may play a vital role in the development of prostate cancer.
Earlier studies including large trials like the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and the Physician's Health Study had suggested lycopene was important in conferring protection from prostate cancer. However in 2005 a study presented by Peter Clark and colleagues at the Wake Forest University had found lycopene to be of no use in protecting 36 men with recurrent prostate cancer. That study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association.
The new study, appearing in the May issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, is a further blow to dietary supplements because another study released last week had found excessive multivitamin usage linked to fatal prostate cancer.
Led by Ulrike Peters of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the current study involved 28,000 men who took part in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. At the beginning of the trial in 1993 all men were cancer free and did not have any positive history for prostate cancer.
They were screened at regular intervals leading up to the conclusion of the trial in 2001 or until prostate cancer was first detected. Researchers found 1,320 prostate cancer cases in the study period. However they were unable to find any difference between the lycopene levels of men who developed prostate cancer and men who did not develop the condition.
An accidental finding during the study was that higher intake of beta-carotene was associated with aggressive prostate cancer that spread beyond the prostate gland itself. Beta carotene is a leading dietary supplement consumed by Americans and is also found abundantly in many vegetables.
"People should be very cautious about taking high doses of supplemental beta-carotene," Dr Peters said.
Researchers also examined other carotenoids to see if they increased the risk of prostate cancer, but did not find any such links. "Consistent with other recent publications, these results suggest that lycopene or tomato-based regimens will not be effective for prostate cancer prevention," they wrote.
Experts say consumers must not rely on any one food to help prevent any cancer. It is advised to maintain a balanced, healthy lifestyle in order to avert most diseases including cancer.
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