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MONDAY, July 21, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- It sounds like a suggestion you'd hear only in your dreams -- wolf down the pizza to keep cancer at bay.
But that's just what researchers are saying in a new study of some 8,000 Italians that found folks who regularly chow down on pizza appear to have a decreased risk of several types of gastrointestinal cancers -- particularly of the colon and esophagus, as well as the throat and mouth.
"The findings of this uniquely large and integrated series of case-control studies from Italy suggest that pizza eating is a favorable indicator of risk for digestive tract neoplasms," reports lead author Silvano Gallus, of the Instituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", in Milan, Italy.
The study, published in the July 21 online edition of the International Journal of Cancer, also showed that the more pizza you eat, the better off you are. In many instances, those who ate pizza once a week or more were up to four times less likely to develop certain cancers than those who only treated themselves to a slice of pie three times a month.
But even an occasional nibble -- a slice or two one to three times a month -- appeared to cut the risk of some digestive tract cancers more than if you ate no pizza at all.
Sound too good to be true? It could be, say some American doctors who suggest the pizza connection might just be pie in the sky.
"I would like to believe it, but I'm not really compelled by the evidence they are providing -- at least not enough to advocate a change of diet," says Dr. Ali Karakurum, a gastroenterologist and colon cancer specialist from Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, N.Y.
The study appears to leave out some very important factors, says Karakurum -- information he believes could influence the results.
"They failed to mention, for example, the duration of the pizza eating. How long were the people eating the pizza to get the result? Was it weeks, months, years? We just don't know, as we don't know what their other eating habits were in the past," he says.
In addition, Karakurum says, there were too many variables -- even in the pizza itself -- to isolate one substance as a beneficial factor.
"People ate different kinds of pizza, in varying amounts, with different toppings. It is much too difficult to draw a conclusion," Karakurum says.
The authors acknowledge these and other drawbacks in the study. And they admit it's a bit too early to make any sweeping recommendations about pizza and gastrointestinal health. However, they also say they took many factors into consideration before formulating their conclusion.
"We analyzed data from a large and integrated network of case control studies... including detailed information on pizza eating as well as on a large number of potential confounding factors," say the researchers.
The study involved a comparison of the pizza-eating habits of 3,315 patients with various forms of digestive tract or laryngeal cancer, to 4,999 patients admitted to hospitals for other causes. Each patient completed a food-frequency questionnaire, which included questions on pizza consumption.
The patients were then divided into three groups: Those who consumed no pizza; those who ate pizza one to three times a month; and those who ate pizza once a week or more. Also figured into the equation: Each patient's age, sex, alcohol and tobacco use, and, in the case of colon and rectal cancer, their level of regular physical activity.
The final result: Compared with the non-pizza eaters, those who ate the most slices of pie appeared to have the lowest risks of oral, pharyngeal, esophageal, laryngeal, colon and rectal cancer. For example, out of 1,225 patients with colon cancer, the number who ate no pizza was 503, and those who ate pizza occasionally was 473. But of the regular pizza eaters, just 249 developed colon cancer.
Statistics for oral and pharynx cancer showed an even greater gap. Of 598 total cases of this cancer, 310 were found in folks who ate no pizza, and 213 appeared in occasional pizza eaters. But this disease affected only 75 regular pizza lovers, the researchers say.
Although the statistics are impressive, the authors admit they are unsure if the pizza connection would work in other countries - or if it's related to other health factors attributable in the classic Mediterranean diet. This is important to note because previous studies conducted in different cultures have linked the intake of high carbohydrate foods to an increased risk of colon cancer.
More information
To learn more about the Mediterranean diet, visit the American Heart Association. For more information on gastrointestinal cancers, check with the American Gastroenterological Association.
