A diet rich in garlic, shallots and onions may halve the risk of prostate cancer. A study in the US Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is based on interviews with 238 men with prostate cancer and 471 men who were free of the disease.
Men in the study, allresidents of Shanghai, China, were asked how frequently they ate 122 food items. The results showed that those who ate more than nine grams a day from the allium food group were about 50 per cent less likely to have prostate cancer than those who ate less of the foods.
The allium food group includes garlic, scallions, chives, leeks and onions.