Fruits protect children from leukaemia

Children who eat oranges and bananas or drink orange juice most days of the week before the age 2 are significantly less likely than other children to be diagnosed with leukaemia before age 14. Previous research has suggested that diet may influence the risk of certain cancers, including colorectal, prostate, lung and breast cancers. Before age 15, more children become sick from leukaemia than from any other type of cancer. However, the effect of diet on the childhood risk of this cancer remains largely unknown. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, interviewed the mothers of 328 children diagnosed with leukaemia and the same number of cancer-free kids. Mothers reported what children ate before age 2. The leukaemia cases and cancer-free children breastfed for a similar amount of time, and weighed roughly the same at birth. The researchers found that children who ate oranges or bananas 4 to 6 times per week were around half as likely to develop leukaemia before age 14. Drinking orange juice between 4 and 6 times per week reduced leukaemia risk by a comparable amount. The researchers noted that cured meats such as meats and hot dogs contain substances that can become carcinogenic in the stomach, and research in rats suggests that eating these meats in pregnancy may increase the risk of brain tumours in offspring. However, eating hot dogs or lunch meals had no influence on leukaemia, perhaps because vitamin C, along with other vitamins contained in fruit, protect the body from the damage the meats can cause. However, more research is needed to investigate whether vitamin C protects against other types of cancer, and whether other foods, such as vegetables, can also protect kids from leukaemia.