Dry tomatoes prevent prostate cancer best

COLUMBIA, Mo., May 29 (UPI) -- The greatest protective effect of tomatoes against prostate cancer comes by rehydrating tomato powder into tomato paste, U.S. researchers said.

Valeri V. Mossine of the University of Missouri said the power of tomatoes to protect against prostate cancer has been suggested in many studies, but researchers aren't sure how it works.

Mossine and colleagues demonstrated that FruHis, an organic carbohydrate present in dehydrated tomato products, exerts a strong protective effect.

The researchers divided rats into groups of 20 and fed them a control diet or a diet that included tomato paste, tomato powder or tomato paste plus additional FruHis. All animals were injected with prostate cancer-causing chemicals.

The study, published in the June issue of Cancer Research, found animals fed the tomato paste plus FruHis diet had the longest survival from cancer at 51 weeks compared with 50 weeks in the tomato powder group, 45 weeks in the tomato paste alone group and 40 weeks in the control group.

A post-mortem found the prostate tumors were found in 10 percent of the rats given a combination of tomato paste and FruHis, compared with 30 percent of animals in the tomato powder group, 25 percent in the tomato paste alone group and 60 percent in the control group.