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Diet and Skin Cancer: More Reasons to
Cut the Fat
 Auburn, July 7, 2003 ---
When it comes to preventing skin cancer, eating right may be almost as
important as using sunscreen and avoiding prolonged exposure to
sunlight – not quite as important, mind you, but almost.
It also underscores what nutritionists have been saying for years:
there are plenty of reasons for reducing dietary fat besides just
lowering serum blood cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease.
“We already know about how dietary fat contributes to obesity, higher
blood cholesterol levels and heart disease risks,” said Dr. Robert
Keith, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System nutritionist and Auburn
University professor of nutrition and foods. “But dietary fat may
also play a role in the formation of skin cancers.”
Research has shown, for example, that people who consume a typical
American diet of around 35 percent fat suffer from higher rates of
skin cancer. On the other hand, those who consume considerably less
dietary fat – around 20 percent of their caloric intake – face a
lower incidence of the disease.
Keith cited a two-year clinical trial by Dr. Homer Black, professor of
Dermatology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. In the course
of the study, Black studied 115 patients with non-melanoma types of
skin cancer to see if cutting their dietary fat would affect the
development of additional skin cancers.
Previous research has shown that people with skin cancer face a
25-percent risk of developing a second malignancy within two years
after diagnosis. Black’s test, however, revealed that patients on a
low-fat diet developed only one third as many tumors as those on
regular diets.
Other dietary factors related to skin cancer appear to be harder to
deduce from the results of Black’s study and similar trials.
Researchers, for example, have long suspected supplements such as
vitamins E, C and beta carotene may be safeguards against skin cancer
and other forms of these disease – a hunch that was not supported
strongly in Black’s research.
“What he found is that individual antioxidants E, C and beta carotene,
for example, don’t seem to show up really strongly in preventing skin
cancers, although studies have shown some decreased risk of skin
cancer after taking each of these,” Keith stressed.
On the other hand, there appear to be lots of benefits from eating a
balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables and, by extension,
antioxidants.
“People who consume high fruit and vegetable diets and don’t
concentrate on any one vitamin or mineral are the ones who are likely
doing the best job of lowering their cancer risk,” Keith said. “And
consuming five fruits and vegetables a day provides all sort of health
benefits besides possibly reducing the risk of skin cancer.”
Black’s research is the first step of what likely will be many
attempts to uncover the link between diet and the all-too-common forms
of skin cancer.
More important even than diet as a safeguard against skin cancer is
the need to avoid excessive sunlight exposure. When you go out for
extended periods, you should use plenty of sunscreen or wear clothing
to cover up skin so it is not overexposed, Keith advised.
While it’s true the body needs a minimal amount of sun exposure to
produce vitamin D, Keith said it usually only requires between 15 and
20 minutes of exposure to obtain the right amount.
(Source:
Dr. Robert Keith,
Alabama
Cooperative Extension System Nutritionist and
Auburn
University
Professor of Nutrition and Foods, 334-844-3273.)
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