Oranges, grapefruit, apricots, peppers, carrots: all these fruits and vegetables with yellow or orange skin have in common that they are rich in carotenoids and polyphenols. However, according to a study that has just been published in the Journal of nutrition, this feature would have a positive effect on women’s health: it would reduce by more than half the risk of suffering from a bladder cancer.
With nearly 10,000 new cases per year, bladder cancer ranks seventh among cancers in France. But, while it mainly affected men, the number of cases of bladder cancer continues to increase in women due to smoking, which is the main risk factor.
We already knew that fruits and vegetables rich in polyphenols and carotenoids (recognizable by their yellow-orange skin) help maintain good vision and have anti-inflammatory properties. This new study, conducted among 185,855 adults by researchers from the Hawaii Cancer Center, shows that the heaviest consumers of these fruits and vegetables are therefore also less likely to suffer from bladder cancer. “This risk is particularly reduced in women. We do not yet know why the protective effect of fruits and vegetables is less felt in men, ”said Prof. Song Yi-Park, who led this study.
Eating carrots is definitely good for your health: in a study published last December, American researchers at Harvard Medical School showed that women who had the highest levels of carotenoids in their blood had a much lower risk of suffer from breast cancer. This study also indicated that the protective effect of yellow and orange fruits and vegetables was particularly strong in women who do not smoke. So you know what you have to do: stop smoking and test our citrus recipes !
