Eating fruits and vegetables and drinking tea and red wine you give to some men and women some protection from cancer of the colon and rectum. The plant foods contain flavonoids, compounds that interfere with the oncogenic process, a team of researchers wrote in the International Journal of Cancer.

The team of graduate student CJM bordered Simons, of Maastricht University, estimated the intake of certain flavonoids in 120,852 men and women between 55 and 69 who responded dietary surveys in the midst of a major study designed to assess the relationship cancer / diet.
In 13 years, 1444 men and 1,041 women developed cancer of the colon or rectum. Consumption of flavonoids did not alter the risk of developing colorectal cancer when the team considered several factors potentially associated with the occurrence of colorectal cancer, including age, family history, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity and eating habits plus the use of estrogen in women.

But when the authors focused on weight, observed that “these compounds have some protective effects in subgroups of overweight men and women with normal weight,” Simons told Reuters Health.

The highest consumption of catechins-found in berries, grapes, black chocolate, tea and red wine was associated with a reduced risk of developing colorectal cancer in overweight men and women of normal weight.

The team observed a similar trend in women with normal weight for flavonols, which are found in onions, apples, tea, wine and fruit juices. “The existence of an inverse trend in most of the catechins and flavonols denies that the relationship is false,” Simons said.

Therefore, the team believes that further studies are needed to better explain how these compounds might influence the risk of colon and rectum, and how this effect alters the weight.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 8:21 am and is filed under Cancer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.