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Fruit and vegetables help fight cancers

June 12th, 2008

Our parents have always told us that eating fruit and vegetables is good for us and now they have the proof.

The Times Online have published an article confirming that eating fruit and vegetables can keep cancer at bay. Scientists at the First International Congress on Nutrition and Cancer in Turkey explained that they can now “demonstrate how the micronutrients in the diet can interfere with the body’s cellular pathways to help to prevent cancer”.

Professor Walter Willett of Harvard University stressed that people needed to have a healthy lifestyle. People need to exercise more, lose weight and increase their intake of fruit and vegetables. Such changes could reduce the risk of cancers of the head and neck as well as gastrointestinal tract.

Fruit and vegetables can also help reduce the risk of sunburn. Tomatoes seem to be the best performers. They are rich in lycopene which offers some protection against “inflammation, premature skin ageing, photo-sensitivity disorders and some skin cancers. A study carried out by Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health which spanned 6 years, studied the diets of more than 47,000 men. Of the 46 fruits and vegetables evaluated, only the tomato products showed a measurable relationship to reduce prostate cancer risk. As you increase the consumption of tomatoes and tomato products the levels of lycopene in the blood increase and the risk for prostate cancer decreases.

Medical News Today confirms that people who eat a Mediterranean-style diet have at least a 25% reduced risk of dying from heart disease and cancer.

Entry Filed under: health, cooking, food