Farinacci Pizza
Pizza may keep cancer at bay Dr. Silvano Gallus at the Institute of Pharmacologic Research in Milan and
his associates analyzed data from studies conducted in Italy between 1991 and
2000. Included were more than 3000 patients with a variety of cancers involving
the digestive tract, such as in the esophagus or colon. For comparison, the
authors included nearly 5000 similar patients without any evidence of cancer. The subjects were interviewed regarding lifestyle habits. People who ate
pizza at least once a week were considered regular pizza eaters, while those who
ate pizza up to 3 times a month were considered occasional eaters. As reported in the International Journal of Cancer, people who ate pizza at
least once a week were less likely to develop any of the digestive tract cancers
than people who did not eat pizza. In addition, for most types of cancer, the
risk dropped steadily the more often pizza was eaten. Despite these findings, "our suggestion is not simply 'eat pizza and you
will be protected against cancers'," Gallus told Reuters Health said, since
"pizza may simply represent an indicator of a healthy Italian diet." On the other hand, "Italian pizzas could be quite different from other
kinds of pizza." He and his colleagues suggest that pizza's favorable
influence may be related to the content of cooked tomatoes, which are rich in
lycopene, and olive oil.
Source: Reuters News
Publish Date: 07/22/2003
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Eating Italian pizza on a regular
basis may lower your odds of getting certain cancers, new research suggests.