Tomato-Broccoli Combo May Protect Against Prostate Cancer
(HealthDay News, 1/16/07)

John Erdman of the University of Illinois, and colleagues, implanted prostate cancer into rats. The researchers then fed the animals diets that contained either broccoli and tomato powder; tomato powder or broccoli powder alone; a supplement of lycopene (the red pigment in tomatoes); or finasteride, a drug used by men with prostate enlargement. The investigators also castrated another group of rats. After 22 weeks, the scientists found that the tomato-broccoli combination had the greatest tumor-reducing effect and only castration came close. These findings indicate that the dietary combination of broccoli and tomatoes may be more protective against prostate cancer than eating either vegetable separately. Scientists speculate that compounds in each of these foods “work on different anti-cancer pathways.”

(Cancer Research, January 15, 2007).