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Are Tomatoes Good For The Prostate

Sensitivity Analysis And Publication Bias

Can Eating Tomatoes Prevent Prostate Cancer? | Super Foods: The Real Story

The influence of each study on the pooled RR was evaluated by repeating the overall analysis after omitting each study in turn. The results indicated that no single study dominated the combined RR. The 24 study-specific RRs ranged from a low of 0.83 to a high of 0.89 via omission of the study by Stram et al.20 and the study by Jian et al.11, respectively . Finally, significant publication bias was observed in Beggs test , but not in Eggers test .

Sensitivity analysis was performed whereby each study was excluded in turn and the pooled estimate recalculated to determine the influence of each study.

Study By Zhongnan Hospital Of Wuhan University & Shanghai Tenth Peoples Hospital Of Tongji University In China Impact Of Lycopene On Prostate Cancer Risk

In a study published in 2015, the researchers from Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, China evaluated the association between lycopene consumption and the risk of Prostate Cancer. Data for the study was obtained through literature search in Pubmed, Sciencedirect Online, Wiley online library databases and manual search till April 10, 2014. A total of 26 studies were included with 17,517 prostate cancer cases from 563,299 participants. ., 2015)

The study found that higher lycopene intake may be associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer. The dose-response meta-analysis also found that higher lycopene consumption was linearly associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer with a threshold between 9 and 21 mg/day.

Another study done by the researchers from the Shanghai Tenth Peoples Hospital, Tongji University in China also found that those who took -carotene and lycopene had 13% and 14% reduced risk of Prostate cancer respectively as compared to those who didnt consume these supplements. The dose response study also found that the risk of Prostate Cancer was reduced by 3% per 1mg/day increment of dietary lycopene intake.

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Are Tomatoes Good For You

Tomatoes are high in fiber and a good source of a variety of nutritional compounds which may benefit you, including :

  • Strengthening hair
  • Improving eyesight

Taking tomatoes in moderate amounts is good for you. However, taking tomatoes in excess amounts daily may not be good and can lead to increased levels of potassium resulting in hyperkalemia, which if not addressed, may result in bad/undesired outcomes such as abnormal heart rhythms. Also, according to American Cancer Society, daily consumption of more than 30 mg of lycopene present in tomatoes may have bad effects such as nausea, bloating and diarrhea.

Foods to Eat After Cancer Diagnosis!

No two cancers are the same. Go beyond the common nutrition guidelines for everyone and make personalized decisions about food and supplements with confidence.

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How To Adjust To The Dietary Needs Of The Person With Prostate Cancer

While these general recommendations ensure a healthy diet, you can play with which foods you choose and how you prepare them so that your meals are appealing and flavorful while also meeting your dietary needs.

Curb weight loss. If youre losing your appetite and losing weight, think again about what youre cooking and how youre preparing food. Experiment with seasoning foods differently so they taste better, or adding sauces and herbs to mask certain flavors. And cook with higher-calorie ingredients that dont require eating large portions to meet caloric needs.

Manage fiber intake for diarrhea relief. Loose stools, bleeding from the rectum, and loss of control over bowel movements happen to some men after getting external beam radiation treatments for prostate cancer. Several foods can help if this happens to you. Choose fiber-rich foods such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. The Prostate Cancer Foundation says its a bit of a balancing act when it comes to fiber, but recommends avoiding foods that might irritate your stomach while trying to keep up your consumption of fiber-rich foods to avoid getting constipated.

Two Key Points Surrounding Tomatoes And Cancer

Nutrition for Prostate Health: What Should You Eat for the Health of ...

Two important points emerge from these studies. The first is that processed tomatoessauce and pasteare more effective than raw tomatoes at reducing cancer risk. In the raw tomato, the lycopene is bound into the cell walls and fiber. Processing breaks down these cell walls and frees the lycopene to be absorbed by the body. Ounce for ounce, processed tomato products and cooked tomatoes contain two to eight times the available lycopene of raw tomatoes. While processing does diminish the levels of vitamin C in the tomatoes, it elevates the total antioxidant activity, thus ultimately providing an enhanced benefit.

The second important point, which Dr. Giovannucci mentions in his article, once again highlights the importance of whole foods. While he notes the association between tomato consumption and reduced cancer risk, particularly lung, stomach. and prostate cancers, he makes it clear that a direct benefit of lycopene has not been proven and other compounds in tomatoes alone or interacting with lycopene may be important. Given the rich array of nutrients in tomatoes it wouldnt be surprising if, once again, the synergy of those nutrients were the reason for the positive effects.

Prostate cancer isnt the only type of cancer that tomatoes seem to help protect against. A growing body of evidence suggests that lycopene provides some degree of protection against cancers of the breast, digestive tract, cervix, bladder, and lung.

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Lycopene And Our Bodies

Humans cannot produce it naturally, but must eat fruits, absorb it, and process it for use in the body.

However, ideal consumption occurs from cooked tomato paste and was shown to be at levels 3.8 times than from fresh tomatoes. The chemical is altered by the temperature changes involved in processing, to make it more easily absorbed by the body.

In a 1995 landmark Harvard study, a group of epidemiologist, monitored the dietary habits of 48,000 men over a period of six years.

Research found that of the 46 fruits and vegetables evaluated it was only the tomato-based foods that were beneficial in lowering the risk of prostate cancer, and lycopene was implicated as the active ingredient. Those men who ate ten or more servings of tomato-based products per week had a 34 percent lower risk of contracting prostate cancer.

The doctors concluded these results because of two factors in lycopene:

  • It acts as an antioxidant in the body, protecting cells against damage from the free radicals formed when body cells burn oxygen for energy.
  • It is easily absorbed into our bodies, then stored in discrete places, such as the prostate gland and testes, which makes it a particular benefit in men.
  • Research has been inconclusive in determining if lycopene can help lower the risk of breast cancer in women however, data suggest the intake of dietary lycopene can play a role in the prevention of ovarian and cervical cancers, especially in postmenopausal women.

    Focus On Diet Not Pills

    So what can be said about the influence of diet and lifestyle on prostate cancer risk? Not much, says Peters.

    There is growing evidence that obesity increases a mans risk for the disease and some suggestion that a healthy diet may be protective. But neither association has been proven.

    American Cancer Society nutritional epidemiologist Marji McCullough, PhD, says it is increasingly clear that cancer prevention efforts should focus more on healthy diets and less on single nutrients like lycopene and beta-carotene.

    Single nutrients dont always give you the big picture, she says. We saw that a few years ago in the beta-carotene studies.

    Researchers thought taking beta-carotene would help prevent lung cancer in smokers, but they ended up finding more cancers in the smokers who took the antioxidant supplements.

    McCullough says the message from those studies and this one is that until more is known, individual carotenoids should not be taken in high doses in supplement form.

    I would recommend that people try to get their carotenoids and other nutrients from the foods they eat, she says. That ensures that they are getting the nutrient in its natural form along with the other nutrients in those foods.

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    Tomato Sauce Put To The Test For Prostate Cancer

    Image Credit:Anshu A / Unsplash.

    What happened when cancer patients were given three quarters of a cup of canned tomato sauce every day for three weeks?

    Occasionallypositive things happen in the field of cancer prevention science to popular, good-tasting foods. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli are wonderful, but they may be a hard food for the public to swallow. By contrast, who doesnt like tomatoes?

    As Ive discussed previously, studies using high-dose supplements of lycopene, the antioxidant red pigment in tomatoes thought to be the active anti-cancer ingredient, failed over and over again to prevent or treat cancer. In fact, it may even end up promoting cancer, since lycopene may actually act as a pro-oxidant at the high levels one can get with supplements. But, lycopene in supplement form doesnt appear to be effective at lower doses either. There is a strong inverse correlation between the intake of fruit and vegetables and the incidence of certain cancers. However, when we supplement with only a single compound isolated in pill form, we may upset the healthy, natural balance of antioxidants.

    So, whats the best way? A spouse wrote to the editor of the Harvard Mens Health Watch, saying their husband wants to have pizza for his prostate but they dont think its a healthy food. The doctor replied with the suggestion of a cheese-free pizza or just some tomato juice.

    New Evidence That A Heart

    Processed Tomatoes Reduce Animal Prostate Cancer

    Replace refined carbs with vegetable fats to slow early stage cancer from progressing to a more lethal form.

    Over the years, evidence has accumulated that men who eat a heart-healthy diet and exercise regularly have a lower risk of developing prostate cancer. But recent findings from the Harvard-based Health Professionals Follow-up Study suggest even after a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer, healthy eating can help stack the odds in his favor.

    Its one of the first studies to look at dietary interventions after men have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, says Dr. Marc B. Garnick, a prostate cancer specialist at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. It supports the idea that you can potentially modify the behavior of prostate cancer that is still confined to the prostate gland.

    The findings suggest that a key dietary step to fight prostate cancer is replacing animal fats and refined carbohydrates with healthier vegetable fats from foods such as avocados, walnuts, and soybean, canola, and olive oils. Men who do this may be less likely to develop aggressive and more dangerous prostate cancer, as opposed to the slow-growing, low-risk type that many men die with but not from.

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    Tomato Juice Preparation For Preventing Prostate Cancer

    To enjoy the tomato juice benefits and to stay away from prostate cancer the following is a simple way to prepare tomato juice.

    • Take 2 to 3 ripe tomatoes and put them in boiling water. Boil it just for 10 seconds. Take it out immediately and put it in ice-cold water.
    • Remove the tomatoes from the cold water. This will make the skin soft and it can be easily peeled off.
    • Remove the seeds if you dont want them in the juice. Now put these tomatoes in a food processor and grind it. You are ready with fresh tomato juice.
    • Add salt and spices for better taste.

    Consult your doctor about the daily intake of tomato juice before making any major dietary change. Tomato juice is effective but this does not mean it gives you a 100% cure or protection against prostate cancer. Hence the people who are already suffering from this type of cancer should follow proper treatment also. With this we come to the end of this Buzzle article. Hope this information was helpful and informative.

    Prostate Cancer: Six Things Men Should Know About Tomatoes Fish Oil Vitamin Supplements Testosterone Psa Tests

    SEATTLE â Aug. 22, 2012 â When it comes to prostate cancer, thereâs a lot of confusion about how to prevent it, find it early and the best way â or even whether â to treat it. Below are six common prostate cancer myths along with research-based information from scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to help men separate fact from fiction.

    Myth 1 â Eating tomato-based products such as ketchup and red pasta sauce prevents prostate cancer. âThe vast majority of studies show no association,â said Alan Kristal, Dr.P.H., associate director of the Hutchinson Centerâs Cancer Prevention Program and a national expert in prostate cancer prevention. Kristal and colleagues last year published results of the largest study to date that aimed to determine whether foods that contain lycopene â the nutrient that puts the red in tomatoes â actually protect against prostate cancer.

    After examining blood levels of lycopene in nearly 3,500 men nationwide they found no association. âScientists and the public should understand that early studies supporting an association of dietary lycopene with reduced prostate cancer risk have not been replicated in studies using serum biomarkers of lycopene intake,â the authors reported in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. âRecommendations of professional societies to the public should be modified to reflect the likelihood that increasing lycopene intake will not affect prostate cancer risk.â

    # # #

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    Study By Researchers In Columbia

    In a study published in 2018, the researchers from Columbia evaluated the efficacy of lycopene intake in primary prevention of prostate cancer. The study obtained data from 27 articles including 22 case-control and 5 studies based on a systematic search of the literature published between the years 1990-2015. The case-control studies included 13,999 prostate cancer patients and 22,028 controls and the cohort studies included 187,417 patients out of which 8,619 were diagnosed with prostate cancer.

    The study found that high lycopene intake significantly reduced the risk of prostate cancer suggesting improved prostate cancer prevention. However, since most of these findings were from observational studies, the researchers suggested high-quality clinical trials to establish these findings.

    Overall, intake of cooked tomatoes, lycopene and tomato products in moderate amounts may be good for reducing the risk of prostate cancer and support prostate cancer prevention. Other studies also suggest that tomatoes or tomato products ingested daily may help in protection from DNA damage, a surrogate endpoint biomarker for prostate cancer.

    However, high quality trials are suggested to establish these facts.

    Five Foods To Protect Your Prostate

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    Good news if youre worried about your prostate health: What you eat can make a difference. There is plenty of strong evidence that good nutrition and an active lifestyle can reduce the likelihood of prostate cancer and slow its progression, says Mitchell Sokoloff M.D., Chair of the Department of Urology and Professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

    There are a few categorical changes you can make to your diet that make a big difference in overall health, as well as prostate health. What you eat can potentially disadvantage your prostate health e.g. foods you might want to avoid or protect the prostate in various ways. The Science of Living Well, Beyond Cancer recommends a diet that is high in colorful vegetables, low in sugar and processed carbohydrates, and moderate in animal-based protein . Some might refer to this as a version of the Mediterranean Diet. PCF-funded epidemiologist Lorelei Mucci, M.P.H., Sc.D., at Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health notes that people in Mediterranean countries not only eat more vegetables and fruits they also eat less fatty foods, processed food, and red meat categories that can increase insulin resistance, increase inflammation, raise cardiovascular risk and be a part of a dietary pattern that may increase obesity, as well.

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    Foods To Avoid When Considering Prostate Health

    Just as with foods that might help you prevent prostate cancer, Dr. Gill says that information about what foods to avoid is also a bit uncertain.

    The biggest challenge with studying the impact of diet on medical conditions, like prostate cancer, is that things often happen at a glacial speed, very slowly compared to studying other things, like the impact of a medication on blood pressure, he says. If you wanted to see the effects of diet on prostate cancer development, youd really need to follow subjects for at least 15 to 20 years, if not longer.

    Still, theres evidence that points to certain foods being bad news. What we do know about avoiding prostate cancer is similar to avoiding colorectal cancer and heart disease, he adds. Those dietary risks include:

    • Too much red meat.

    Tomatoes Don’t Prevent Prostate Cancer

    Study Shows That Lycopene Doesn’t Cut Risk of Prostate Cancer

    May 17, 2007 — The news that tomatoes could prevent prostate cancer sounded too good to be true, and apparently it was.

    Lycopene, found mainly in tomatoes and tomato products, had little impact on prostate cancer risk in a new study from the National Cancer Institute and Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

    Early research suggesting a protective role for lycopene spurred great commercial and public interest in the antioxidant in the late 1990s.

    But subsequent studies have been either contradictory or inconclusive, Fred Hutchinson assistant professor and researcher Ulrike Peters, PhD, MPH, tells WebMD.

    The new research, led by Peters, is one of the largest and most rigorously designed trials ever to examine the issue. And the lycopene findings were unequivocal.

    “It would be great if it were true. would be a cheap and easy way to lower prostate cancer risk, and it would be a great public health message,” Peters says. “Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.”

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