News Release
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
CONTACT: Howard White: 202-686-2210, ext. 339; hwhite@pcrm.org
New Study Finds Vegetables, Sunshine Help Prevent Prostate Cancer
Animal Products Cited as Risk Factors
Men: An Onion a Day May Be Better for You Than an Apple a Day
WASHINGTON – Guys: Ignore what
mom used to tell you: an onion a day may be better for your health
than an apple a day, according to a new report due to be published
in March in European Urology.
The study, a statistical analysis of diets and prostate cancer
rates in 32 countries, shows that vegetables, particularly members
of the allium family like onions, leeks and garlic, as well as cereals
and grains, beans and fruit, help reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
Also good for you is vitamin D, either from food sources or from
moderate exposure to ultraviolet-B rays, a component of sunshine.
Meat and dairy products, on the other hand, may add significantly
to a man’s risk of developing prostate cancer, says William
B. Grant, Ph.D., the study’s author.
“It is alarming,” says Grant. “My analysis clearly
shows that in countries where meat and dairy consumption are high,
so are prostate cancer death rates. Countries with lower consumption
of animal-based products show reduced rates of prostate cancer.”
He notes that prostate cancer death rates are five times higher
in the United States and in northern European countries where meat
and dairy consumption is high, than in Hong Kong, Iran, Japan and
Turkey, where diets rely more heavily on vegetables, grains and
cereals, beans and fruits. Among men in the U.S., prostate carcinoma
is the second most common cause of death from cancer, claiming more
30,000 lives every year. Prostate cancer kills about 200,000 men
annually worldwide.
Grant, who used cancer mortality data from the World Health Organization
and dietary information from the Food and Agriculture Organization
as a basis for his study, asserts that his findings “put prostate
cancer in the same camp as other cancers like breast and colon and
rectal cancers for which animal products – fats and proteins
– are high-risk factors.”
A retired NASA atmospheric scientist and a member of PCRM, he has
spent the last seven years using ecologically based statistical
analysis techniques to study links between diet and disease. His
work includes studies on Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis,
heart disease and cancer, and has been published widely.
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact
Howard White (above), or Dr. Grant at (757) 870-8434 (cell), or
by e-mail at wbgrant@infionline.net.
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