Thursday, April 03, 2008
Anti-Cancer
Spicing up your diet with onions and garlic may help lower your risk of developing some cancers. This is according to the results of 8 studies conducted in Italy and Switzerland and is in line with some past research.
Each study compared healthy older adults to cancer patients, asking them for detailed information on their diets and other lifestyle habits.
The researchers found that older adults with the highest onion and garlic intakes had the lowest risks of a number of cancers, including colon, ovarian and throat cancers. High onion and garlic intakes were also associated with lower risks of cancers of the mouth, kidneys and ovaries.
With regards to colon cancer they found that:
Men and women who ate 7 or more servings of onions per week had less than half the risk of those who kept way from them
Garlic lovers were 25% less likely to develop the disease than people who had garlic-free diets.
Lab experiments suggest that certain compounds in garlic and onions may inhibit the growth of tumours (sulphur compounds found in garlic and antioxidant flavonoids in onions are among the potentially protective substances).
According to lead author Dr. Carlotta Galeone, it's probably wise to mix them with plenty of other vegetables. In particular, tomatoes have been suggested as having cancer-fighting effects once combined with garlic.
The results were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.