Finally, Something Good For You That Tastes Good
Researchers are making tremendous progress in identifying foods that can help prevent cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. But with discouraging regularity, they turn out to be ones that taste bad.
That’s why we’re eager to pass along news about something more appetizing than tofu, oat bran and broccoli.
How about pizza sauce? Or maybe marinara over angel-hair pasta? Or even a refreshing bowl of gazpacho?
What they have in common, of course, is red, ripe, lycopene-rich tomatoes, identified in yet another study as a potentially powerful cancer fighter.
At last month’s annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, Columbia University researchers reported the outcome of a study of 195 people, 93 of whom had lung cancer.
Overall, people with the lowest lycopene levels had three times the risk of cancer as those with high levels. The effect was even more pronounced in blacks; those with the lowest lycopene levels had eight times the cancer risk of those with the highest levels, the study found.
The researchers measured blood levels of lycopene, alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and other nutrients in people with cancer and without. The chemical levels were similar for both groups - except for lycopene, which was significantly lower in people with lung cancer.
Lycopene (LIE-koh-peen), the pigment that makes tomatoes red, is a carotenoid and a cousin of beta-carotene; it’s the predominant carotenoid in human blood. But our bodies can’t make it, so we must get it from food, and tomato products are our richest dietary source.
The first widely publicized study on lycopene was in 1995, when the Harvard School of Public Health identified a relationship between high consumption of tomato-based foods and a lower risk of prostate cancer. More than two dozen studies since then have added to evidence that lycopene may reduce the risk of stomach, colon, endometrial, breast and other cancers.
It’s worth remembering that, in dietary research, today’s rising star often fizzles tomorrow. But if you want to increase the lycopene in your diet, don’t think you have to wait until summer when you can live on tomato sandwiches - though I’d take them over soy burgers any day.
Cooked tomatoes, it turns out, may be better than raw ones. The cooking relaxes the cellular structure and makes the nutrients more easily absorbed by the body, according to German research confirmed by U.S. Department of Agriculture studies. A little oil aids in absorption, too, scientists say.
The richest sources of lycopene are tomato ketchup (surprise!), spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce, all with 5 milligrams of lycopene per ounce. Canned tomatoes, tomato soup, tomato juice and vegetable juice have 3 milligrams, according to the Tomato Research Council, launched last year by food processors to publicize lycopene research.
Scientists are continuing to investigate lycopene’s role in cancer prevention.
In the meantime, though, it can’t hurt to add some extra sauce to that pizza. And hey, you could have a V-8!