Nov. 6, 2003 COLUMBUS, Ohio – A tomato a day may help keep
prostate cancer at bay -- but a widely used dietary supplement
derived from tomatoes may not be sufficient. That's the
conclusion of the first animal study comparing the cancer-
preventing potential of tomato products to that of lycopene, a
substance extracted from tomatoes and taken by many men in hopes
of warding off prostate cancer. Research by scientists at The
Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G.
James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute
and their colleagues showed that rats with prostate cancer
survived longer when fed a diet that included whole tomato
products but not when fed the same diet plus lycopene. The
effect was most apparent when the animals' food intake was
modestly restricted. The study was published in the Nov. 4 issue
of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. "Our findings
strongly suggest that risks of poor dietary habits cannot be
reversed simply by taking a pill," says study co