Some allergies may help protect against some cancers, a Canadian researcher has suggested.

Male eczema sufferers showed a lower risk of lung cancer while men with a history of asthma had a lower risk of stomach cancer, says professor Marie-Claude Rousseau of the Institute Armand-Frappier.

Rousseau says in a statement, "Asthma and eczema are allergies brought about by a hyper-reactive immune system -- a state which might have enabled abnormal cells to have been eliminated more efficiently, thereby reducing the risk of cancer."

Rousseau was among authors of a study, which linked allergic disorders and the incidence of eight common types of cancer, that was published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

It has also been reported that Rousseau and colleagues re-examined data gathered in Montreal from August 1979 to March 1986 in a study of workplace exposure and cancers diagnosed in 3,300 men, ages 35-70, with a control group of 512 people without cancer from the general population.

The report further noted that the researchers included Rousseau and others from INRS, the Research Centre of the Centre hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal and McGill University, all in Montreal. (With Inputs from Agencies)