There are numerous studies that prove that eating fruits and vegetables may improve your life and health and today at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Sixth Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention the researchers have presented new findings about the impact of the dietary habits on one of the worse diseases: cancer.

For example, according to the researchers at The Ohio State University, black raspberries

may protect against esophageal cancer. The scientists said that in patients with Barrett’s esophagus (BE), a pre-cancerous condition that usually arises due to gastroesophageal reflux disease, the black raspberries reduced measures of oxidative stress, decreased DNA damage, inhibited cellular proliferation rates, and reduced the number of pre-cancerous cells in the esophagus and colon. BE patients have a 30- to 40-fold increased risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), the fastest growing cancer in terms of incidence in the United States.

The Ohio State University scientists said that the BE patients who ate 32 or 45 grams  of freeze-dried black raspberries daily for 26 weeks experienced a statistically significantly decline in the mean urinary levels of 8-Isoprostane, an indicator of global oxidative stress and DNA damage - both processes linked to the development of BE and EAC.

“In addition to gastroesophageal reflux disease, increasing body mass index or body fatness is strongly associated with EAC development; whereas, plant-based diets and particularly increased fruit consumption has been associated with decreased risk for EAC,” said Laura A. Kresty, Ph.D., assistant professor of at Ohio State University.

In another study, researchers from Roswell Park Cancer Institute reported that a diet rich in raw cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower could reduce the bladder cancer risk by approximately 40 percent.

The result was explained by the presence in those vegetables of the isothiocyanates (ITCs), a known class of cancer prevention agents.

In addition, the researchers said that after taking in consideration the smoking habits of the surveyed patients, the non-smokers who ate at least three servings of raw vegetables a month were almost 73 percent less likely to develop bladder cancer compared to smokers who ate less than three servings.

A key factor in the research was that it is a survey of raw cruciferous vegetables. Previous research had surveyed intake of any cruciferous vegetables – cooked or not – and results proved inconsistent. Cooking significantly reduces the availability of ITCs for absorption into the body, according to researchers.

“Cooking can reduce 60 to 90 percent of ITCs,” says Li Tang, M.D., Ph.D. of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and lead researcher on this study. “Heating destroys the enzyme that converts the precursor glucosinolates into ITCs, and also destroys ITCs already formed, which is why you need to eat raw cruciferous vegetables to receive the food’s maximum benefit.”

In addition, using a rat model of bladder cancer, Yuesheng Zhang, M.D., Ph.D, professor of oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, found that freeze-dried aqueous extract of broccoli sprouts significantly, and dose-dependently, inhibited bladder cancer development. The incidence, multiplicity, size and progression of bladder cancer were all inhibited by the extract, while the extract itself caused no observable changes in the bladder.

“The bladder is like a storage bag, and cancers in the bladder occurs almost entirely along the inner surface, the epithelium, that faces the urine, presumably because this tissue is assaulted all the time by noxious materials in the urine,” said senior author Yuesheng Zhang, M.D., Ph.D, professor of oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. “The ITCs in broccoli sprout extracts after oral ingestion are selectively delivered to the bladder epithelium through urine excretion.”

Previous researches proved the beneficial effects of broccoli in reducing the risk of skin cancer. In a study published in October Dr. Paul Talalay, from the department of pharmacology and molecular sciences at the Johns School of Medicine, discovered that

the treatment with broccoli sprout extract might be another protective measure that alleviates the skin damage caused by UV radiation and, thereby, decreases  long-term risk of developing cancer.