Good news may be in store for men as the results of a new study have revealed that eating tomatoes may actually lower the risk for prostate cancer by nearly 20 percent.

Experst believe that the findings may be a direct effect of consuming lare amounts of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant found in tomatoes which helps fight off toxins that can cause DNA and cell damage.

As a part of the study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, scientists from the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford analysed the diets and lifestyles of 1,806 prostate cancer patients between the ages of 50 and 69, and compared them to that of 12,005 cancer-free men.

The findings indicated that men who consumed more than 10 servings a week of tomatoes reduced their risk for prostate cancer by 18 percent. But the study authors asserted that the importance of variety and balance in diet cannot be ignored and that further studies are needed to confirm the findings.

The researchers also looked at the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research's (AICR) recommendations on physical activity, diet and body weight for cancer prevention and found that the guidelines recommend a high intake of fruits, vegetables and dietary fiber with a decreased risk of prostate cancer.

The study findings are significant in the wake of prostate cancer being the second leading cause of cancer death in the US. This cancer comes second only to lung cancer and affects about 1 in 7 men, according to the American Cancer Society.