A little known vitamin found in many vegetables may play a key part in preventing illness, researchers reported last night.
The new study links the substance alpha-carotene to a reduced risk of dying.
A study of more than 15,000 Americans found high levels of the substance in the blood amongst relatively healthy people.
The finding may explain the conundrum of why foods rich in carotenoids are linked to improved health – but supplements using the carotenoid, beta-carotene, have repeatedly been found not to aid health.
According to the researchers, alpha-carotene is found in a range of "healthy" vegetables, such as carrots and pumpkin – which are orange – and dark green vegetables such as broccoli and spinach.
The findings were reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Researcher Dr Chaoyang Li, of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, says those with the highest levels of alpha-carotene enjoyed a 39 per cent reduced risk of dying.
The researchers say: "Carotenoids other than beta-carotene may contribute to the reduction in disease risk, and their effects on risk of disease merit investigation.
"Results from a population-based case-control study of the association between the consumption of fruits and vegetables and risk of lung cancer suggest that consumption of yellow-orange (carrots, sweet potatoes or pumpkin and winter squash) and dark-green (broccoli, green beans, green peas, spinach, turnips greens, collards and leaf lettuce) vegetables, which have a high alpha-carotene content, was more strongly associated with a decreased risk of lung cancer than was consumption of all other types of vegetables."
* Similar findings were reported yesterday from a European study of cancer prevention.
Researchers concluded that eating a variety of fruit and vegetables – as well as the recommended five a day – helped reduce risk by as much as 23 per cent, especially in smokers.
The findings, in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, comes from an analysis of half a million people in ten countries, including the UK, Sweden and Norway.
Reearcher María José Sánchez Pérez, of the Andalusian School of Public Health, Spain, said: "Aside from the amount consumed, it’s also important to take into account the variety. A varied diet reduces the risk of developing this cancer, above all in smokers".
Arch Intern Med. November 22 2010 doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2010.440
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 19(9); 2278-86; September 2010
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