Research by scientists at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute and their colleagues showed that rats with prostate cancer survived longer when fed a diet that included whole tomato products but not when fed the same diet plus lycopene. The effect was most apparent when the animals' food intake was modestly restricted. The study was published in the Nov. 4 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
"Our findings strongly suggest that risks of poor dietary habits cannot be reversed simply by taking a pill," says study co-author Steven K. Clinton, associate professor of hematology and oncology and of human nutrition. "We shouldn't expect easy solutions to complex problems. We must focus more on choosing a variety of healthy foods, exercising and watching our weight."
A number of earlier studies have suggested that eating tomatoes and tomato products such as sauce, paste and soup is associated with a lower prostate-cancer risk. Scientists proposed that lycopene, a potent antioxidant and the substance that makes tomatoes red, gives the fruit its anti-cancer properties.
Clinton and his colleagues first separated 194 rats with prostate cancer into three groups. A control group was fed a balanced diet containing no detectable lycopene. The second group received the control diet plus lycopene, and a third group received the control diet mixed with tomato powder made from tomato paste that included seeds and skins.
Additionally, each group was subdivided into
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Contact: Darrell E. Ward
Ward-15@medctr.osu.edu
614-293-3737
Ohio State University
4-Nov-2003