Source: www.canada.com/montrealgazette
Author: staff

Replacing corn oil with canola oil may lower cancer risk not only for women but for their unborn babies, U.S. researchers reported yesterday. They found that mice fed canola oil while pregnant were less likely to develop breast cancer – and so were their unborn pups – than mice fed corn oil.

The findings are probably because of omega-6 fatty acids, the researchers told a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Some research has linked high amounts of omega-6 fatty acids to health problems including cancer.

Fifty per cent of the fatty acids in corn oil are omega-6, while just 20 per cent of the fatty acids in canola oil are. And canola oil is much richer than corn oil in omega-3 fatty acids, which are linked with heart and cancer benefits.

Broccoli and similar vegetables appear to offer special protection from cancer for smokers, researchers reported.

They found that former smokers and, especially, people still smoking heavily got special benefits from eating the vegetables. “The most significant effect was in heavy smokers,” said Li Tang of Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., who led the study. People who smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day were considered heavy smokers.

Smoking raises the risk of many types of cancer, including lung cancer, head and neck cancer and bladder cancer.

Broccoli and other so-called cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts have been known to lower the risk of cancer in general, perhaps through compounds called isothiocyanates.

However, Tang cautioned: “If you smoke long enough, nothing can help.”