Eating Pizza Slices Colon Cancer Risk?

Italian researchers claim that eating pizza on a regular basis may decrease a person's chances of developing colon cancer by more than 25%. Sound too good to be true? It is, a little bit.

Researchers asked 3,300 people who had developed cancer, how often they ate pizza. They asked the same question to 5,000 people who hadn't developed cancer. Results showed that people who ate pizza at least once a week were less likely to develop cancer of the mouth, esophagus, or colon.

Before you pull that take-out menu from the drawer, a few caveats:

• The researchers believe it's the lycopene in the tomato sauce that afforded these benefits, not the pizza itself.
  
  
• Italian pizza tends to be less fatty than pizza in America and the U.K.

So can pizza really slice colon cancer risk? According to this study, yes, provided you pick the right kind of pizza and consume it in moderation.

_{Source: Eating Pizza 'Cuts Cancer Risk'. BBC News. 22 Jul. 2003. 25 Aug. 2006 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/3086013.stm].}