BOSTON Mothers who eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and vitamin C during pregnancy appear to lower the risk that their children will develop brain cancer, researchers reported today.
The scientists set out to test the idea that eating smoked meats and other foods high in nitrates, nitrites and nitrosamines during pregnancy raises the risk of this cancer.
However, they found no sign that these substances were bad. In fact, a high intake of nitrates actually appeared to reduce the risk of childhood brain cancer called primitive neuroectodermal tumors.
While the study did not identify any foods that convincingly seemed to raise the risk, it identified several that appeared to lower it.
However, such studies cannot actually prove cause and effect, and some hidden factor other than food could have accounted for the differences.
''Our results nonetheless suggest that some aspects of maternal diet influence the risk of primitive neuroectodermal tumor in children,'' the researchers wrote.