Cancer: A Nutritional Disease, An Environmental Disease

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Good News Today for Natural Health Care Advocates

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Five-a-day 'will not cut cancer'
By Clare Murphy, Health reporter, BBC News

Eating more fruit and vegetables has only a modest effect on protecting against cancer, a study into the link between diet and disease has found.

The study of 500,000 Europeans joins a growing body of evidence undermining the high hopes that pushing "five-a-day" might slash Western cancer rates.

The international team of researchers estimates only around 2.5% of cancers could be averted by increasing intake.

But experts stress eating fruit and vegetables is still key to good health.

In 1990, the World Health Organization recommended that everyone consume at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day to prevent cancer and other chronic diseases.

The advice has formed a central plank of public health campaigns in many developed countries. It has been promoted in the UK since 2003 and in the US for nearly two decades.

But research has failed to substantiate the suggestion that as many as 50% of cancers could be prevented by boosting the public's consumption of fruit and vegetables.


“ It's still a good idea to eat your five-a-day but remember that fruits and vegetables are pieces in a much larger lifestyle jigsaw ”
Yinka Ebo Cancer Research UK
This latest study, which analysed recruits from 10 countries to the highly-regarded European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, confirms that the association between fruit and vegetable intake and reduced cancer risk is indeed weak.

The team, led by researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York, took into account lifestyle factors such as smoking and exercise when drawing their conclusions.

But writing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, they said they could not rule out that even the small reduction in cancer risk seen was down to the fact that the kind of people who ate more fruit and vegetables lived healthier lives in many other respects too.

Broccoli not biscuits

In the best case scenario, an extra two portions of fruit and vegetables each day could prevent 2.6% of cancers in men and 2.3% of cases in women, the study concluded.


“ Research should focus more sharply on specific fruits and vegetables and their constitutents ”
Walter Willett Harvard School of Public Health
Vegetables, which tend to be richer in nutrients, appeared to be more beneficial than fruits, while heavy drinkers seemed to gain the most from a higher intake of both when it came to protection from cancers caused by alcohol and smoking.

In an accompanying editorial, Professor Walter Willet of Harvard University said the research strongly confirmed the findings of other studies, showing "that any association of intake and fruits and vegetables with risk of cancer is weak at best".

But he stressed specific substances contained in certain fruit and vegetables, if harnessed, could still have an important, protective effect.

Substantial evidence suggests lycopene from tomatoes, for instance, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer, while chemicals in broccoli are thought to stimulate a gene which protects against bowel cancer.

And data still suggests fruit and vegetables may provide protection against cardiovascular disease, one of the major killers in the developed world - although this too has yet to be proven categorically.


Keeping lean

But while the links between diet and cancer remain unclear, obesity is now seen as an established risk factor.

Fruit and vegetables could therefore be beneficial just by virtue of taking the place of more calorific fare, health experts say.

In any event, a reduced risk of 2.5% should not be dismissed out of hand, the World Cancer Research Fund argues.

"For the UK, this works out as about 7,000 cases a year, which is a significant number," says Dr Rachel Thompson from the charity, which in a major 1997 report said there was "convincing evidence" of the protective effect of fruit and vegetables.

Yinka Ebo of Cancer Research UK said: "It's still a good idea to eat your five-a-day but remember that fruits and vegetables are pieces in a much larger lifestyle jigsaw.

"There are many things we can do to lower our chances of developing cancer such as not smoking, keeping a healthy weight, cutting down on alcohol, eating a healthy balanced diet, being physically active and staying safe in the sun."

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8605270.stm
Published: 2010/04/07 00:31:56 GMT © BBC MMX

Another anti-cancer food

Another Anti-Cancer Food

The lowly carrot has a whopping 686% of RDA as Vitamin A. More on health benefits of carrots here.

Carrots also help lower blood pressure, improve vision, protect your respiratory system, add fiber to your diet, and the juice has been used in natural cancer care for decades.

If you read the junque journalism of late you're told vitamin A is dangerous to your health.

Now you learn that carrots are anti-cancer. Juliette Levy told us this in her work on cancer in animals decades ago.
Cancer 1 Cancer 2 Cancer: A Nutritional Disease

Cancer boost from whole carrots
By Sharon Barbour, BBC News

The anti-cancer properties of carrots are more potent if the vegetable is not cut up before cooking, research shows.

Scientists found "boiled before cut" carrots contained 25% more of the anti-cancer compound falcarinol than those chopped up first.

Experiments on rats fed falcarinol have shown they develop fewer tumours.

The Newcastle University study will be presented at NutrEvent, a conference on nutrition and health, to be held in France.

Lead researcher Dr Kirsten Brandt, from Newcastle University's School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, said: "Chopping up your carrots increases the surface area so more of the nutrients leach out into the water while they are cooked.

"By keeping them whole and chopping them up afterwards you are locking in nutrients and the taste, so the carrot is better for you all round."

The Newcastle scientist, along with colleagues at the University of Denmark, discovered the health benefits of falcarinol in carrots four years ago.

Heat effect

Rats fed on a diet containing carrots or falcarinol were found to be one-third less likely to develop full-scale tumours than those in the control group.

Since then the scientists in Newcastle have been studying what happens when carrots are chopped and cooked.

The latest findings show that when carrots are heated, the heat kills the cells, so they lose the ability to hold on to the water inside them, increasing the concentration of falcarinol as the carrots lose water.

However, the heat also softens the cell walls, allowing water-soluble compounds such as sugar and vitamin C to be lost via the surface of the tissue, leading to the leaching out of other compounds such as falcarinol.

If the carrot is cut before being boiled, the surface area becomes much greater - and so the loss of nutrients is increased.

More tasty

Dr Brandt added that in blind taste studies the whole carrots also tasted much better.

Eight of ten people favoured the whole vegetables over those that were pre-chopped.

This is because the naturally occurring sugars which are responsible for giving the carrot its distinctively sweet flavour were also found in higher concentrations in the carrot that had been cooked whole.

Dr Brandt said: "The great thing about this is it's a simple way for people to increase their uptake of a compound we know is good for you.

"All you need is a bigger saucepan."

Dr Kat Arney, of the charity Cancer Research UK, remained unconvinced that keeping carrots whole would have any impact on cancer risk.

She said: "When it comes to eating, we know that a healthy balanced diet - rich in a range of fruit and vegetables - plays an important part in reducing the risk of many types of cancer, rather than any one specific food."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8101403.stm

Published: 2009/06/16 23:07:50 GMT, © BBC MMIX