Preventing Prostate Cancer

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"Prostate cancer has emerged as a major public health problem in nations that have an affluent culture with an aging population...

"...many laboratory and clinical studies are now underway with the goal of assessing the ability of pure lycopene 'found in tomatoes] to serve as a ...preventive agent for prostate and other malignancies. The focus on lycopene should continue, and an improved understanding of lycopene absorption, ...'its] role in antioxidant reactions, and metabolism is critical in the quest to elucidate 'how it may] reduce prostate cancer risk.

"In contrast to the 'drug type of] approach with pure lycopene, many nutritional scientists direct their attention upon the diverse array of tomato 'ingredients] as a complex mixture of ...active phytochemicals that together may have anti-prostate cancer benefits beyond those of any single constituent." Emphasis added.

DETAILS: This argues for the eating of whole tomatoes and/or tomato sauce (pasta sauce) as opposed to taking in the single lycopene ingredient. It should be noted that lycopene, like other coloring matter in fruits and vegetables called carotenoids, can be better utilized by the body when cooked.

Preventing Prostate Cancer Bibliography

Hadley, Miller, Schwartz and Clinton, Dept. of Food Science & Technology & Division of Hematology and Oncology, The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Res. Inst., Ohio State U., Columbus, OH 43210. In Experimental Bio. & Med., vol. 227, 2002.