An Onion a Day May Repel Pancreatic Cancer

Michael Smith
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Explain to interested patients that flavonols are a class of compounds found in many fruits and vegetables that are thought to have anti-cancer properties.
Note that this large prospective study suggests that diets high in some of those compounds may be associated with reduced risk of pancreatic cancer, especially among smokers.

NUTHETAL, Germany, Oct. 4 -- An onion a day may help fend off pancreatic cancer, researchers here said.

Apples, on the other hand, may not, Ute Nöthlings, Ph.D., of the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, and colleagues in California and Hawaii, reported in the October issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The finding comes from the Multiethnic Cohort Study, which collected baseline data -- including dietary information -- on more than 215,000 people ages 45 to 75 from 1993 through 1996 in California and Hawaii, said Dr. Nöthlings and colleagues.

For this analysis, the researchers looked at possible links between flavonols -- a class of polyphenols found in fruits and vegetables and thought to have cancer-fighting properties -- and the risk of pancreatic cancer.

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