Heinz might no longer be able to claim its ketchup can prevent prostate cancer.The FDA-approved and popularly held notion that antioxidants in tomatoes can prevent prostate cancer appears to be false, according to a large study done by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and National Cancer Institute.
"It was an hypothesis based on observational studies and the fact that cancer can be caused by oxidative damage to DNA," said Ulrike Peters, a Fred Hutchinson scientist and lead author on the report published in the current journal of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.
Natural dietary compounds known as carotenoids, especially the antioxidant lycopene, have been proposed as cancer-fighters because of their ability to protect against the kind of chemical and genetic "oxidative" damage in cells that can lead to cancer.
Tomatoes are especially high in lycopenes and some earlier studies, including one done in 2002 by Harvard, found epidemiological evidence that men who ingested large amounts of tomato products had lower risks of prostate cancer.
This, along with other studies suggesting the protective benefit, prompted the Food and Drug Administration in 2005 to allow the world's largest maker of tomato-based products, H.J. Heinz Co., to advertise that: "The risk of prostate cancer may be reduced by eating just 1/2 to 1 cup of tomatoes -- such as a single serving of Classico{+®} pasta sauce -- per week."
The FDA now allows makers of tomato-based products to claim their foodstuffs may reduce the risk of gastric, ovarian and pancreatic cancers as well. Continue to the full story from source.
2 comments:
The tomato is already high in Vitamin C and Lycopene along with other great nutrients such as potassium. The tomato could quite possibly become the world's next super food.
Well super food or not, the sun-dried tomatoes from Spinneys are my favorite delicatessen
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