vegetables – Oral Cancer News

Professor studies plants, foods to prevent cancer

Source: www.mysanantonio.com Author: Jennifer R. Lloyd, Staff Writer Twigs, leaves and berries may sound like the diet of the destitute, but for molecular medicine professor Michael Wargovich, certain plants, like those in traditional medicines and food in developing countries could be gold mines in the fight against cancer. In his newly outfitted lab at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Wargovich and his staff are testing the cancer-preventing properties of green tea. They'll also soon start investigating the anti-inflammatory abilities of the neem tree, native to India, and which already is used in some toothpastes available in the United States. Wargovich, 60, cited World Health Organization statistics showing that the hot spots for cancer will move south of the equator by 2020 as the population swells and its residents, immunized from many infectious diseases, live longer and assume a more Western lifestyle. “They're giving up their traditional diets,” he said. “The things that we've found are protecting us against cancer are disappearing as everybody tries to be homogenized and Western and going to fast-food places.” He said undetectable chronic inflammation sets people up for illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes. Yet foods with anti-inflammatory properties — fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs — are disappearing from the world's plate. As a side project, Wargovich and an executive chef are developing an anti-inflammatory diet to reintegrate beneficial foods into modern-day dining. In April, Wargovich will give a free public lecture about cancer-fighting foods. Visit the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-03-23T10:45:03-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Do fruits and veggies offset tobacco/alcohol cancer risks?

Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: DrBicuspid Staff Consuming fresh fruits and vegetables has been shown to reduce the risk of oral cancer, and now a new study suggests that these "protective effects" may impede the negative effects of tobacco and alcohol consumption with regard to cancer risk (Nutrition and Cancer, November 2012, Vol. 64:8, pp. 1182-1189). For the study, researchers from the University of São Paulo assessed the association between frequent consumption of fruits and vegetables and the risk of oral cancer, comparing results between nonsmokers and smokers and nondrinkers and drinkers. Their case-control study involved 296 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma attended in three major hospitals in São Paulo, paired with 296 controls recruited from outpatient units of the same hospitals. The researchers found that eating both fruit and vegetables was associated with prevention of the disease in light (odds ratio [OR] = 0.46; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.27-0.78) and heavy (OR = 0.30; 95% CI = 0.14-0.65) smokers. For nonsmokers, no fruit (OR = 50; 95% CI = 0.22-1.12) or vegetable (for tomato, OR = 0.53; 95% CI = 0.31-0.93) was associated with reduced risk of oral and oropharyngeal cancer. Similar results were found with regard to drinking status, with OR = 0.51 (95% CI = 0.30-0.87) and 0.18 for fruits (95% CI = 0.07-0.45), respectively, for light and heavy drinkers. "This observation suggests that the protective effect of fruit and salad intake may modulate the deleterious effects from tobacco and alcohol," the researchers concluded.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-11-28T10:18:37-07:00November, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Meat ups cancer risk while fruit/vegetables reduce it

Source: www.foodconsumer.org Author: staff In 1976, the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, led by Senator George McGovern found that meat-based diets are responsible for more than half of total cases of cancer. In 1980, the U.S. National Cancer Institute directed the National Research Council to collect and study the literature on nutrition and cancer. It found that eating meat causes 40 percent of cancers in males and 60 percent of total cancers in women. International research institutions confirmed that the more the meat intake, the higher the risk for the cancer, particularly in the digestive system. Harvard University public health experts found 70 percent of human cancers are associated with meat consumption. U.S. National Institutes of Health studied fifty thousand vegetarians and found they had much lower risk for cancer than meat eaters. At the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center, Tim Bayer, Professor of Preventive Medicine, said fruits and vegetables are preventative against all gastrointestinal cancers and cancers induced by smoking. He also said it has been fully scientifically confirmed that eating fruits and vegetables prevents oral cancer , throat, esophagus, lung, stomach, colon and bladder cancer. Chairman of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Research Group and University of California biologist Dr. Clifford Grobstein said: "By controlling the food we eat, the diet can prevent sensitive cancers, such as esophagus, breast, stomach, colorectal and prostate cancer." Why does a vegetarian diet prevents cancer? 1. Fruits and vegetables contain anti-cancer ingredients In 1978, the University [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-11T08:35:35-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Vegetables found to reduce risk of mouth cancer in women

Source: www.freshplaza.com Author: staff Vegetables containing Vitamin B can reduce the risk of mouth cancer in women, according to findings highlighted in the vegetable industry’s November consumer and market report, Veginsights, which profiles the fresh produce market, including avenues to lift vegetable consumption. AUSVEG is the peak industry body representing the interest of over 9,000 Australian vegetable and potato growers. AUSVEG spokesperson Erin Lyall said that Vitamin B could be found in vegetables that have high folic acid content, including lettuce, beans, asparagus and spinach. “As part of this project, researchers observed and followed about 87,000 nurses for 30 years, from 1976 and they discovered that women who drank a high volume of alcohol and had a low folic acid intake were three times more likely to develop mouth cancer than those who drank a high level of alcohol, but had high volumes of folic acid in their diet,” Ms Lyall said. The research, carried out by the Columbia University Medical Centre and the Harvard School of Public Health, found that high alcohol intake is associated with significantly increased oral cancer risk, especially in women with low folate intake. “This research will encourage women to consume more green leafy vegetables, especially those that have a high folic acid content, to improve their general health and reduce their likelihood of suffering from mouth cancer,” Ms Lyall said. Ms Lyall said that the research findings were vital evidence of a specific health benefit related to greater vegetable consumption. “Indications from the Veginsights [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-12-05T17:57:12-07:00December, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Research shows lifestyle choices increase oral cancer risk

Source: www.cosmeticdentistryguide.co.uk Author: staff Research conducted by a team at Aberdeen University has shown that lifestyle choices are increasing the risk of oral cancer. The study showed that young people are increasing their risk of developing forms of cancer known as upper aero-digestive tract by choosing to drink alcohol on a regular basis and smoke. Diet also plays a significant part and those with a poor diet, lacking in essential nutrients provided by fruit and vegetables, have a much higher risk of developing AEDT cancers. The study was conducted over a five year period; data from 350 patients under the age of 50 with AEDT cancer was analysed alongside data from 400 patients who did not have AEDT cancer. The study concluded that nine out of ten cases of cancer were associated with regular consumption of alcohol, smoking and a poor diet. Oral cancer is becoming increasingly common, yet many people are still aware of the symptoms and signs. Dentists are campaigning to raise awareness of oral cancer and increase the media profile so that people are aware of the importance of regular dental check-ups and know which signs to look out for. Common symptoms of oral cancer include white or red patches in the mouth, sores which do not heal and unusual swellings in the mouth or throat. The British Dental Health Foundation are launching Mouth Cancer Action Month in November; it is hoped that the events and programmes will educate people about oral cancer and encourage them to [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-10-13T14:31:13-07:00October, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Fruit and vegetables only modestly linked to reduced cancer risk, large study questions conventional wisdom

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com Author: Catharine Paddock, PhD A large study of over 400,000 people living in ten western European countries found only a modest link between high intake of fruit and vegetables and reduction in overall cancer risk: thus failing to confirm the widely held belief enshrined in the World Health Organization's recommendation that people should eat five servings of fruit and vegetables a day to prevent cancer and other diseases. Dr Paolo Boffetta, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and colleagues, wrote about their findings in a study published in the 6 April online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In 1990 the World Health Organization recommended people eat five helpings of fruit and vegetables a day to reduce their risk of cancer, cardiovascular and other diseases. But since then, many studies have either produced inconsistent results or failed to find a significant link between fruit and vegetable intake and cancer risk, wrote the authors. For their prospective study, Boffetta and colleagues analyzed data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), which recruited 142,605 men and 335,873 women in Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, between 1992 and 2000. The data were mostly self-reported by the participants and detailed their dietary and lifestyle habits. The participants were followed for a median of 8.7 years, during which time deaths and incidents of cancer diagnoses were noted. The researchers then analysed the data using [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-04-19T22:20:54-07:00April, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Adapting the science of supplements and cancer prevention

Source: www.cancer.gov Author: Carmen Phillips Numerous studies suggest that avoiding excess weight, exercising regularly, and eating a diet heavy on fruits and vegetables decreases the risk of many diseases, including cancer. But as the expanding obesity epidemic has shown, there are major obstacles to getting broad swaths of people to adopt such a healthful lifestyle. So, for many years, cancer researchers have investigated whether specific nutrients—those that epidemiologic and animal model studies have suggested could sway cancer’s course—could decrease cancer risk. Much has been learned from this work, researchers in the field say, but, as is the case with treatment, each new discovery points to new areas of focus and other potential avenues of progress. With promising bioactive compounds in the pipeline, many prevention researchers are focused on figuring out not just whether something like sulforaphane, a natural compound found in broccoli and broccoli sprouts, can kill cancer cells in a test tube or animal model—which it does, quite well—but how, at the molecular level, it accomplishes this task, whether there are some cancer cells that are more likely to respond to it, and whether there are ways of discerning early on that the intervention is having its intended effect. Prevention: A Complex Matter A number of supplements have been tested in large prevention trials, including vitamins A, C, and E; selenium; beta-carotene; and folic acid. At least one trial has demonstrated a reduction in cancer deaths with a combination of supplements, while several others found no reduction or even [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-17T19:42:35-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Diet, nutrition, and cancer — don’t trust any single study

Source: American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 100th Annual Meeting Author: Zosia Chustecka Numerous studies on diet and cancer were presented here at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 100th Annual Meeting, but several of the findings that were highlighted in AACR press releases — and thus are likely to be picked up by the lay media — run counter to the accumulated body of evidence, and some of the comments based on these studies are untrue or premature. So said Walter Willet, MD, DrPH, from the department of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston, Massachusetts, in an exclusive interview with Medscape Oncology. "No conclusions should be made on the basis of a single study," he said. Dr. Willett presented an overview entitled "Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer: The Search for Truth," in which he reviewed many of the associations that have been suggested by epidemiologic studies. These include consumption of red meat, meat cooked at a high temperature, a high-fat diet, and alcohol all increasing the risk, and fruit and vegetables decreasing the risk. However, much of the evidence for these links is rather weak, he said; the most robust evidence supports a link between obesity and an increased risk for cancer. "The estimate that diet contributes to around 30% to 35% of cancers is still reasonable," Dr. Willet said, "but much of this is related to being overweight and inactive." "At this point in time, being overweight is second only to smoking as a clear [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-04-26T20:27:00-07:00April, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Dietary factors and oral and pharyngeal cancer risk

Source: Oral Oncol, November 4, 2 Authors: Ersilia Lucenteforte et al We reviewed data from six cohort studies and approximately 40 case-control studies on the relation between selected aspects of diet and the risk of oral and pharyngeal cancer. Fruit and vegetables were inversely related to the risk: the pooled relative risk (RR) for high vegetable consumption was 0.65 from three cohort studies on upper aerodigestive tract cancers and 0.52 from 18 case-control studies of oral and pharyngeal cancer; corresponding RRs for high fruit consumption were 0.78 and 0.55. beta-carotene, vitamin C and selected flavonoids have been inversely related to the risk, but it is difficult to disentangle their potential effect from that of fruit and vegetables. Whole grain, but not refined grain, intake was also favorably related to oral cancer risk. The results were not consistent with reference to other foods beverages, and nutrients, but it is now possible to exclude a strong relation between these foods and oral and pharyngeal cancer risk. In western countries, selected aspects of diet may account for 20-25% of oral and pharyngeal cancer, and the population attributable risk increases to 85-95% when tobacco and alcohol consumption are also considered. Authors: Ersilia Lucenteforte, Werner Garavello, Cristina Bosetti, and Carlo La Vecch Authors' affiliation: Dipartimento di Epidemiologia, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", via Giuseppe La Masa 19, 20156 Milan, Italy

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-11-15T09:58:35-07:00November, 2008|Oral Cancer News|