Tomatoes prevent cancer? Veggies ease arthritis?

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Organic Gardening, April 1995. Here's even more incentive to grow and can tomatoes and other veggies this year and from now on.

. . . [A] study in the International Journal of Cancer (Vol. 59, 1994) found that people who eat a lot of tomatoes significantly lower their risk of developing several types of cancer.

Researchers in northern Italy looked at the health records of 5,600 tomato-eating adults and found that those who ate seven or more servings of raw* tomatoes a week were 50 to 60 percent less likely to develop cancer of the stomach, colon and rectum than people who ate two or fewer servings a week. The researchers believe that lycopene, an antioxidant member of the carotenoid family of nutrients, may be the cancer-fighting element in tomatoes. (*If they're right, cooked tomatoes may also offer protection, because lycopene isn't affected by heat.)

. . .A new Norwegian study in The British Journal of Nutrition found that a switch to meat-free meals eased the pain for most participants.

. . . [When the study and control groups were compared], those on the vegetarian diet were found to have experienced fewer arthritis symptoms than the meat-eaters. In fact five "veggies" improved so much they were able to reduce their intake of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs during the course of the study. Researchers believe the reduction in symptoms may have resulted from the high intake of antioxidant vitamins and the lower intake of fat that is a natural "side-effect" of a veggie diet. [Old Git disagrees--ice-cream and chocolate are vegetarian, so are butter, cheese and cream! But the study says they were allowed only milk in the dairy products group, poor things.]

In a follow-up study a year later. . . an astonishing 16 of the original 22 had become vegetarians! AND they continued to report less pain, morning stiffness, joint tenderness, and joint swelling than before.

[Old Git can provide possible anecdotal support for the above, with change to a weed-eating diet 10 or 11 years ago coinciding with a significant reduction in the symptoms of arthritis and football knee suffered for many years. Actually, it's a field hockey knee. Won't need the Weather Channel after Y2K, can forecast rain 24 hours before the event. . .]

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), May 02, 1999

Answers

Hey, Old Git, I've seen your messages on other threads around here. I like you, whoever you are.

I'd be willing to bet that if someone did a survey on the health of people who not only EAT tomatoes but also GROW them, that those in the 2nd group would be even healthier.

Being one who likes to take problems and turn them into opportunities, I can see the potential for some good coming out of Y2K changes in the realm of food production. More people are getting interested in gardening.

For anyone reading this who's just beginning: don't get discouraged early on. It takes 2 to 3 years to get your soil built up to the point where you can grow marvelous veggies without adding fertilser or pesticides. So how's this gonna help you when Y2K is upon us? For people who aren't already experienced gardeners I'd suggest thinking of your garden produce as a supplement to stored boughten food.

Just in case there are long-term shortages, store up enough food to get you through a year. If your garden is productive, wonderful. If it's not so productive that first year, you still have enough body-fuel to keep you going.

Get some gardening books. I highly recommend John Jeavons' *How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land Than You Ever Imagined* or something like that--it's a long title. If a person could only afford to buy one book, that's the one I'd recommend. If you can buy 2 books, add *Seed to Seed* by Suzanne Ashworth (I may have the author's name spelled wrong, but that should be close enough to find the book).

I think of starting a garden as a no-risk form of Y2K insurance. Even if there turned out to be NO food shortages as a result of Y2K you'd be engaging in a healthful and rewarding activity. GG altamira@ecpi.com

(This is my real e-mail address. How come all you people use fake e-mail addresses?) (should I be doing the same?)

-- Gal Gardner (latamira@ecpi.com), May 02, 1999.


Even ketchup consumption may be a factor here... provided that it is not containing any preservatives. Any antioxidants are benefitial. Green tea is one of my favored.

> (This is my real e-mail address. How come all you people use fake > e-mail addresses?) (should I be doing the same?)

No, a great deal of folks here use real addys. A rule of thumb: If you see as unavoidable to call someone an idiot, fake addy may be desirable.... No, I never used it. That does not mean that I wouldn't love to use expletives indiscriminately, on occassion, but I am naturally extremely polite. ;-)

-- lgj (ramblings@boydweb.com), May 02, 1999.


Re fake addresses: there are programs which harvest e-mail addresses from forums and BBs--not at the behest of the forum, I hasten to add, but rather from junk mail companies. Then you start getting spam by the ton--you should see my box sometimes.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), May 02, 1999.

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