Published on
Updated
Reading 3 mins.
in collaboration with
Dr Laure Martinat (Anesthesiologist-resuscitator)
According to an Australian study, giving pride of place to foods rich in lycopene and selenium (present in the Mediterranean diet) would reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer. This diet would also protect men against the harmful effects of radiotherapy.
Food is often the first medicine to stay healthy, and new research proves it again. According to an Australian study, a diet rich in lycopene and selenium, present in fruits and vegetables in particular, would prevent prostate cancer but also accelerate recovery in men already treated with radiotherapy. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men.
Low levels associated with cancer risk
This conclusion is based on precise measurements: the researchers compared the plasma concentrations of micronutrients in 106 patients with prostate cancer, with those of a group of 132 healthy controls. Two lessons have gone in the direction of this Mediterranean diet:
- In sick patientsthere were low levels of lutein, lycopene, alpha-carotene and selenium;
- In healthy patientsthose with plasma concentrations below 0.25 micrograms (ug) per milliliter (mL) for lycopene and/or below 120 ug/L for selenium had an increased risk of prostate cancer.
In addition, according to the authors, a low content of lycopene and selenium in the blood plasma would be likely to increase the DNA damage caused by radiotherapy. With or without cancer, adopting such a diet would therefore be beneficial in men.
Swap red meat for fruit and white meat
Concretely, for the authors, preventing lycopene and selenium deficiencies would reduce the risk of prostate cancer, unlike saturated fats and red meat implicated in poor health.
“Our recommendation is to adopt a Mediterranean diet with the help of a dietician, because people absorb nutrients in different ways, depending on the food, the digestive system, the person’s genotype and possibly their microbiome.”explains Dr. Permal Deo, co-author of the study.
“All antioxidant substances are beneficial for the immune system”
Consulted, Dr. Laure Martinat, expert in phyto-aromatherapy and micronutrition, is not surprised by this study:
“If the link was not established so far with prostate cancer, lycopene and selenium are anyway, antioxidant substances that protect our immune system. However, all substances that promote the good functioning of the immune system, will be beneficial and important, especially when we get older and our cells are more fragile, more sensitive to oxidative stress” she says, recalling that the prevalence of selenium deficiency in the population is significant to date.
The protective effect in radiotherapy also seems to him a good thing:
“The principle of radiotherapy is to attack all cells at the DNA level, to destroy cancer cells. We therefore rely on the fact that healthy cells will repair themselves faster than cancer cells. If selenium and lycopenes protect our cells we can assume that it can help healthy cells to repair themselves faster.In any case, the conclusion is that these substances are important for our health, especially in our countries where junk food and fast sugars are popular . Adopting a balanced diet is a priority”.
Where to find lycopene and selenium?
Good news: filling up with lycopene and selenium does not pose any particular major difficulties. As the authors point out, you will find a good content of lycopene in:
- Tomatoes ;
- The melon ;
- The grape ;
- Peaches ;
- Papaya;
- The watermelon ;
- Cranberries.
Selenium is to be found on the side:
- White meat;
- Fish ;
- Crustaceans ;
- Eggs ;
- Nuts.