Tomatoes Help Prevent Certain Cancers

Eat your tomatoes. The red globes are rich in a compound that Johns Hopkins University researchers have found lacking in people most apt to develop pancreatic cancer. The malignancy is especially virulent, killing 22,000 Americans yearly.

The investigators examined blood samples collected 10 years ago from 26,000 people. The scientists were searching for clues that might identify those most likely to later develop cancer of the pancreas.

Indeed, the cancer victims’ blood, compared with that of similar individuals who did not get cancer, showed one outstanding nutritional difference: low levels of a vegetable compound called lycopene. In fact, those with the least lycopene in their bloodstream had five times the chance of getting pancreatic cancer as those with the most blood lycopene.

Lycopene is a red pigment in fruits and vegetables, especially tomatoes and strawberries.

The researchers speculate that low blood levels of lycopene signified low consumption of such foods, leaving pancreatic cells more vulnerable to damage from cancer-causing agents.

Strange as it may seem, there’s new evidence that drinking tea, especially green Oriental-type tea, may help prevent strokes.

A new four-year study of nearly 6,000 women by Japanese physicians at Tohoku University School of Medicine noted that women who drank at least five cups of green tea every day were only half as likely to suffer a stroke as those who drank less green tea.

Theoretically there may be an explanation, say experts. Tea, especially green tea, is extremely high in compounds that combat destructive molecules called “free radicals”; these molecules wreak havoc on cells and promote all kinds of disease, including the clogging of arteries that could lead to stroke.

A recent test found green-tea chemicals stronger even than Vitamin E and Vitamin C at destroying these free radicals. Other studies, dating back to the 1960s, suggest that tea helps protect arteries and blood vessels from disease.

Green tea is commonly served in Oriental restaurants and sold in Oriental grocery stores.