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By Alka Agrawal, PhD

WESTPORT, Jan 05 (Reuters Health) - Vegetable intake, particularly intake of cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower and broccoli, substantially lowers the risk of prostate cancer in men, according to a report published in the January 5th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Prostate cancer risk was not affected by fruit intake.

Dr. Alan R. Kristal and colleagues at the University of Washington, in Seattle, studied 628 men ages 40 to 64 who had been newly diagnosed with prostate cancer, as well as 602 age-matched male controls. To assess the men's dietary habits over a 3- to 5-year period, the researchers administered a food frequency questionnaire that asked about usual consumption of 99 foods.

When Dr. Kristal's team considered total vegetable intake, they found that men who ate 28 or more servings of vegetables a week had a 35% lower risk of prostate cancer compared with men who ate fewer than 14 servings a week.

In addition, men who ate three or more servings of cruciferous vegetables a week had a 41% decreased risk of prostate cancer compared with men who ate less than one serving per week, even after the researchers accounted for total vegetable intake.

"It's a piece of strong evidence that vegetables can protect against prostate cancer," Dr. Kristal told Reuters Health. He pointed out that cruciferous vegetables, in particular, are high in isothiocyanates, which activate enzymes present in all cells that detoxify carcinogens.

Although the strongest association in the study was between intake of cruciferous vegetables and lowered prostate cancer risk, Dr. Kristal says that eating a variety of vegetables is probably important in lowering the risk. J Natl Cancer Inst 2000;92:61-68.

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