Crunch! Carrots May Cut Cancer Risk

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Crunch! Carrots May Cut Cancer Risk

 

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Wed Feb 9, 5:02 PM ET

 

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By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

 

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 9 (HealthDayNews) -- There's more good

news from the garden: A compound in carrots may be a

potent cancer fighter, reducing malignancies in rats

by a third, a European study claims.

 

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" One of the natural pesticides in carrots is

responsible for the cancer-preventing effect of

carrots, " said lead researcher Kirsten Brandt, a

senior lecturer at the University of Newcastle upon

Tyne, in England. " We now have identified a compound

which seems to have an effect that can explain this

benefit. "

 

Nutrition experts have long recommended that people

eat carrots because of their apparent ability to

prevent cancer, but, until now, the particular

compound driving this effect was not known.

Epidemiological studies have shown that individuals

with the highest carrot consumption can lower their

risk of cancer by up to 40 percent.

 

Now, Brandt's team says that falcarinol, a compound

that protects the vegetable from fungal diseases, may

be the prime reason carrots are so unfriendly to

cancers. One previous study had suggested that might

be the case, but results were inconclusive.

 

To find out if falcarinol really does prevent cancer,

Brandt's team studied 24 rats with precancerous tumors

that mimicked human colorectal cancer. The rats were

assigned to three groups, and each group was given a

different diet.

 

After 18 weeks, Brandt's group found that rats that

ate carrots along with their ordinary feed, as well as

a second group that had falcarinol added to their

feed, were one-third less likely to develop cancerous

tumors compared with rats that were not given either,

according to the report in the February issue of the

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

 

Brandt said the exact mechanism behind falcarinol's

anti-cancer activity remains unknown. The researchers

also don't know if the results seen in rats would be

seen in humans. " But, it is encouraging that the data

fits with what we have seen in humans, " Brandt said.

 

These findings reinforce the message that people

should eat five servings of fruit and vegetables

everyday, she said.

 

" We have now tested carrots, " she added. " But there

are a lot of other vegetables that we have not tested,

which might have the same properties. There are lots

of other similar compounds in other vegetables. "

 

However, whether the beneficial effect of falcarinol

is diluted or eliminated when carrots are cooked or

juiced is unknown. That needs to be tested, Brandt

said.

 

The researchers were intrigued that the vegetable's

natural pesticides may be the real cancer-fighters,

not vitamins or other nutrients. According to Brandt,

the discovery may answer the longstanding question,

" Why is it that eating vegetables is so much better

for your health than just taking a vitamin pill with

the same amount of vitamins and minerals? "

 

In addition, the finding might be important in

developing new cancer treatments, she said. However,

Brandt believes the quickest benefit can be achieved

by simply developing carrots that have more

falcarinol. " We might be able to double the intake of

falcarinol, and that might have large benefits for

public health, " she said.

 

Another expert, Vicky Stevens, a research scientist at

the American Cancer Society (news - web sites),

remains cautious. " It is a little difficult to know

where this is going to go in relation to humans, " she

said " It is worthy of further research. "

 

Stevens believes falcarinol might be just one weapon

in the vegetable anti-cancer armamentarium. " We don't

expect that there is going to be one single magic

bullet. It is still important to consider the rest of

the carrot, and other vegetables, " she said.

 

" Perhaps the single most significant implication of

this study is that it reaffirms dietary common sense

in our era of dietary silliness, " said Dr. David L.

Katz, an associate clinical professor of public health

and director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale

University School of Medicine.

 

Katz noted that some of the popular " low-carb " diets

actually banish carrots because they have a high

glycemic (sugar) index. " Brandt helps reveal the folly

of this oversimplified and rigid interpretation of

what constitutes good food, " he said.

 

" We may have to wait to know for sure that falcarinol

can help prevent cancer in humans, " Katz said. " But we

needn't wait to derive likely health benefits from

eating carrots often -- and I, for one, don't intend

to. "

 

 

 

More information

 

The American Cancer Society can tell you more about

diet and cancer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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