Vitamin C intake offers protection against stomach cancer

[Guest guest]

This is a very light weight article but it does show that with even

low levels of vitamin C intake that many major diseases can be

averted. The number one problem with vitamins is that most people do

not take enough to be effective. We should take from 5 to 10 grams a

day of C. F.

 

 

http://nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp?id=55455 & n=dh292 & c=wokvpgxagwnympq

 

 

Vitamin C intake offers protection against stomach cancer

 

18/10/2004 - Further evidence shows that vitamin C intake and fruit

consumption may be linked to reduced risk of stomach cancer.

 

The study also shows that lycopene, an antioxidant found in tomatoes,

could have a protective effect against the cancer although the

researchers caution that this needs further research.

 

The team from the US National Cancer Institute and National Public

Health Institute of Finland assessed the association between fruit and

vegetable consumption and the risk of stomach cancer in approximately

29,000 male smoker participants, aged 50 to 69, of the

Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta Carotene (ATBC) cancer prevention study in Finland.

 

This trial, initiated to test the effect of vitamin supplementation on

the prevention of lung and other cancers, ended in 1993 but ongoing

follow-up of the participants continues, offering new insights into

the causes and prevention of multiple diseases.

 

Speaking yesterday at this year's Frontiers in Cancer Prevention

Research conference (abstract 173), the US and Finnish scientists said

they had found fruit and vitamin C intake, but not vegetable

consumption, reduced risk of non-cardia cancer approximately 45 per cent.

 

Non-cardia cancer is the major form of stomach cancer in most parts of

the world. Stomach cancer is the second most frequent cause of cancer

deaths worldwide, with an estimated 776,000 deaths in 1996, and the

fourth most common cancer. In the UK stomach cancer is the sixth most

common cancer with 10,000 new cases each year.

 

" Since our findings are similar to the results found in several other

studies, fruit and vitamin C intake are likely to be useful for the

prevention of stomach cancer, " said Farin Kamangar of the Cancer

Prevention Studies Branch at the National Cancer Institute, and one of

the lead investigators of the study.

 

Last year researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center found

that the lower the level of vitamin C in the blood the more likely a

person will become infected by Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria that

can cause peptic ulcers and stomach cancer. Although it was not clear

whether the presence of the bacteria lowered blood levels of the

vitamin, or whether vitamin C levels could protect against it, other

studies have also seen low blood levels of vitamin C in people with

the cancer.

 

In Japan, where rates of the cancer are much higher than in the west,

researchers have linked a diet of highly salted food containing little

vitamin C, with a twofold risk of the cancer.

 

Another component of fruit, lycopene, which is already associated with

reduction of breast and prostate cancer risk, also appeared to lower

chances of stomach cancer by 34 per cent.

 

But the effect of lycopene on gastric cancer " needs further studies " ,

warned Dr Kamangar.

 

Recent research suggests that lycopene may reduce risk of cancer by

activating special cancer preventive enzymes, rather than through its

antioxidant effect.

 

 

(Moderator's Note: I do not belive this below in the least.)

When looking at cardia cancer (another part of the stomach),

consumption of retinol, a form of vitamin A, was associated with a

reduced risk, but the vitamin E forms alpha-tocopherol and

gamma-tocopherol seemed to be associated with an increased risk,

reported the researchers.

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