meat the culprits

Eating one’s vegetables could help ward off a form of cancer that has been on the rise for the last quarter-century, according to a study by investigators at Yale and around the country. Since the mid-1970s the rate of adenocarcinomas of the esophagus and gastric cardia has increased by 300 percent. “We found that many nutrients in foods of animal origin are significantly associated with a risk of developing this class of cancers,” said lead author Susan T. Mayne, Ph.D. They also found that certain plant-based nutrients, including dietary fiber, dietary beta-carotene, folic acid and vitamins C and B6, were associated with a lower risk. Harvey A. Risch, M.D., Ph.D., was the principal investigator on the study, published in the October issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.