June 14, 2000
Your mother was right. Vegetables are good for you, particularly tomatoes.

A recent study finds that eating at least five servings of tomato-based products a week can reduce the risk of prostate and other cancers.

It's not the first time tomatoes have been cited as cancer fighters. Lycopene, which occurs naturally in tomoatoes, has long been known as an anti-carcinogen. But now more statistical evidence is being mustered to support lycopene's standing.

In a recent review of 72 studies published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (February 17, 1999), Dr. Edward Giovannucci of Harvard Medical School concluded that intake of tomatoes and tomato-based products, has been consistently related to elevated blood lycopene levels and a lower risk of a variety of cancers.

"The health benefits of tomato products came to light five years ago when a Harvard study showed that risk of prostate cancer was a third lower in men who consumed more tomato products like pasta sauce," says Steven Schwartz, Ph.D., Professor of Food Science and Nutrition at The Ohio State University. "Since then, new research has supported a link with tomato products and decreased risk of other cancers, including pancreatic cancer, lung cancer and colorectal cancer."

Processing Helps
Perhaps surprisingly, research also indicates that the cooking and processing of tomato products appear to make lycopene even more readily available to the body, indicating that there may be an added health benefit to eating processed tomato products like tomato soup, tomato sauce and tomato-based vegetable drinks.

In one study, 38 patients, ages 52-79, with prostate cancer, not undergoing active treatment, were studied over a three-month period. A highly significant increase of carotenoids and lycopene was observed in prostate cancer patients given dietary instruction to follow a low-fat high-fiber diet supplemented with six ounces of a tomato-based vegetable juice daily, suggesting that a mixed vegetable juice supplement may increase bioavailable lycopene and carotenoids in prostate cancer patients.

In a separate study, 36 healthy adults, ages 18-65, consumed standard daily servings of three familiar processed tomato products: pasta sauce, tomato soup and vegetable juice. The study showed that lycopene is readily absorbed from these products, although bioavailability differs for each, and that a single daily serving of as little as six ounces of tomato juice or a bowl of tomato soup can significantly increase blood lycopene levels.

"We're continuing to learn more and more about the connection between food and disease prevention," says Schwartz. "According to health professionals, eating at least five servings a day of fruits and vegetables is prudent and now it makes good sense to include tomato products as one of the five choices each day, not only to help lower the risk of cancer but to help meet daily fruit and vegetable recommendations and promote overall health."

Each year in the U.S., an estimated 180,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer. Nearly 37,000 are expected to die of the disease this year.