• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Possible link between maternal diet and childhood leukemia risk

Physician Practice Advisor, September 3, 2004

A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that women who eat more vegetables, fruit, and foods containing protein before pregnancy may have a lower risk of having a child who develops leukemia, the most common childhood cancer in the United States.

The study, published in the August 2004 issue of Cancer Causes and Control, is the first time researchers have conducted a systematic survey of a woman's diet and linked it to childhood leukemia risk.

Within the fruit and vegetable food groups, certain foods including carrots, string beans, and cantaloupe have stronger links to lower childhood leukemia risk. The researchers point to the benefits of nutrients, such as carotenoids, in those foods as potential protective factors.

The researchers also found that the nutrient glutathione has a strong link to lower cancer risk. Glutathione is an antioxidant found in both meat and legumes, and it plays a role in the synthesis and repair of DNA, as well as the detoxification of certain harmful compounds.

For more information, click here.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive