
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 3, 1993                   TAG: 9306030100
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

STUDY FINDS BOOZE CUTS VEGGIE BENEFITS

The anti-cancer benefit of eating lots of fruits and vegetables will be lost if you wash them down with more than two drinks of alcohol, researchers say.

In a study of 16,000 women and 9,500 men who underwent a medical screening for precancerous polyps in the colon, researchers said they found that people with high levels of folate, a nutrient common in fruits and vegetables, were much less likely to have polyps.

The exception, said Dr. Edward Giovannuci, was among heavy drinkers. They were at increased risk of the polyps despite a good diet high in folate, he said Tuesday.

"We speculate that alcohol may have an effect on folate metabolism," said Giovannuci, a researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and the Harvard Medical School.

A report on the study is to be published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

- Associated Press

by CNB