Diet and cancer prevention: New evidence for the protective effects of fruits a...( PHILADELPHIA -- The age-old refrain ...),Health

PHILADELPHIA -- The age-old refrain, Eat your vegetables! gets scientific support as researchers present the latest findings on cancer prevention at the American Association for Cancer Researchs Sixth Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention, being held December 5 8 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Today, researchers present new data that demonstrate how diets full of raw vegetables --particularly broccoli sprouts -- and black raspberries could prevent or slow the growth of some common forms of cancer.

Black raspberries may protect against esophageal cancer by reducing oxidative stress in patients with Barretts esophagus (BE), a pre-cancerous condition that usually arises due to gastroesophageal reflux disease, report researchers at The Ohio State University.

According to the researchers, BE patients have a 30- to 40-fold increased risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), the fastest growing cancer in terms of incidence in the United States. EAC is a deadly cancer with a 15 percent five-year survival rate; an estimated 14,000 people will die from esophageal cancer in the U.S. in 2007. Moreover, a number of treatment options are available to BE patients for symptom relief, researchers say, but none has proven curative or eliminated the risk of cancer progression.

In addition to gastroesophageal reflux disease, increasing body mass index or body fatness is strongly associated with EAC development; whereas, plant-based diets and particularly increased fruit consumption has been associated with decreased risk for EAC, said Laura A. Kresty, Ph.D., assistant professor of at Ohio State University.

According to Kresty, research using animal models of BE showed that black raspberries inhibited chemically induced oral, esophagea
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