Posted Oct 3, 2009
We’ve lauded the benefits of eating fish many times before in this column. Here’s another reason to consider making fish a regular part of your diet: It may save you from skin cancer.
A recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at the effect of eating fish on the occurrence of actinic keratoses, or AKs – those rough, red patches that tend to pop up on the skin as we get older, especially on sun-damaged skin.
More than half of invasive squamous cell skin cancers begin as AKs, so anything that can help to prevent AKs can potentially reduce your risk of skin cancer.
In this study, the dietary intake of more than 1,100 adults in Australia was monitored over four years. Participants were also evaluated by dermatologists for the presence of AKs on their skin at the beginning and the end of the study. After four years, there was a 28 percent reduction in new AKs among the people who ate the oiliest fish, such as salmon (one to two servings per week), compared with those who ate the least amount of such fish.
There was also a benefit to drinking wine. Those people who drank a half-glass per day on average had a 27 percent reduction in AKs.
Another study published in 2007 showed that a diet high in fruits and vegetables, especially leafy green vegetables, reduced the risk of squamous cell skin cancer by 54 percent. So there you have it – a little fish, a little wine and a little green salad – great meal, great skin!
Of course, avoiding harmful sun exposure and blistering sunburns is probably the most important thing you can do to keep your skin healthy, especially if you are fair-skinned or have a family history of skin cancer.
If you tend to avoid the sun because of this, be sure to take a vitamin D supplement every day.
Date: Sept 7, 2009
(Drs. Kay Judge and Maxine Barish-Wreden are medical directors of Sutter’s Downtown Integrative Medicine program. They have written “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Secrets of Longevity” ($18.95, Alpha/Penguin Books). Have a question related to alternative medicine? E-mail fitness@sacbee.com.)