Key clinical point: Intake of cooked and canned tomatoes may have a protective effect against prostate cancer; this effect is possibly due to lycopene content.

Major finding: A total of 1,226 incident cases of prostate cancer were identified during 7.9 years of follow-up; and of these, 355 were aggressive. Consumption of canned and cooked tomatoes >4 times/week was associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer (hazard ratio, 0.72; P = .02).

Study details: The data come from a study of 27,934 men without prevalent cancer enrolled in the Adventist Health Study-2.

Disclosures: This study was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and World Cancer Research Fund Grant, to the Adventist Health Study. The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Commentary

“Identification of safe, yet effective, means to prevent prostate cancer is an important, but challenging goal. One hypothesis is that antioxidant-containing foods may act to help prevent certain cancers. Tomatoes contain lycopene, which may act in such a manner. Previous studies designed to evaluate tomatoes and lycopene as preventative agents in prostate cancer have been somewhat mixed. In the study by Fraser et al., the authors evaluated whether tomatoes and, more specifically, lycopene may be associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer in a prospectively identified cohort. Using baseline nutrition surveys, the authors identified that consumption of canned and cooked tomatoes more than 4 times a week was associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer. However, studies of this nature are difficult to use to institute changes in clinical practice due in part to potential confounders and potential inaccuracy of nutrition surveys.”

Mark Klein, MD