Raw versus Cooked Vegetables and Cancer

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Raw versus Cooked Vegetables and Cancer Risk?

Both are good. Is raw better? Maybe they are.

" Nine of the 11 studies of raw and cooked vegetables showed

statistically significant inverse relationships of these cancers with

raw

vegetables, but only 4 with cooked vegetables "

versus

" One of two bladder cancer studies found an inverse relationship with

cooked, but

not raw, vegetables "

seems to overall favour raw vegetables for cancer prevention.

See the the wait-a-year pdf available below.

Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2004 Sep;13(9):1422-35.

Raw versus Cooked Vegetables and Cancer Risk.

Link LB, Potter JD.

This review of the medical literature from 1994 to 2003 summarizes the

relationship between raw and cooked vegetables and cancer risk and

examines

whether they may affect cancer risk differently. Twenty-eight studies

examined

the relationship between raw and cooked vegetables and risk for

various cancers.

Twenty-one studies assessed raw, but not cooked, vegetables and

cancer risk. The

majority of these assessed risk of oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal,

esophageal,

lung, gastric, and colorectal cancers. Most showed that vegetables,

raw or

cooked, were inversely related to these cancers. However, more

consistent

results were found for oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal, esophageal, and

gastric

cancers. Nine of the 11 studies of raw and cooked vegetables showed

statistically significant inverse relationships of these cancers with

raw

vegetables, but only 4 with cooked vegetables. The few studies of

breast, lung,

and colorectal cancers also suggested an inverse relationship with

both raw and

cooked vegetables, but these results were less consistent. In the two

studies of

prostate cancer, there was no association with either raw or cooked

vegetables.

One of two bladder cancer studies found an inverse relationship with

cooked, but

not raw, vegetables. Possible mechanisms by which cooking affects the

relationship between vegetables and cancer risk include changes in

availability

of some nutrients, destruction of digestive enzymes, and alteration

of the

structure and digestibility of food. Both raw and cooked vegetable

consumption

are inversely related to epithelial cancers, particularly those of

the upper

gastrointestinal tract, and possibly breast cancer; however, these

relationships

may be stronger for raw vegetables than cooked vegetables.

PMID: 15342442 [PubMed - in process]

Cheers, Alan Pater