Cancer: things helping to prevent cancerListen to your mom. Mama put it this way: "You eat your vegetables now, young man." The National Cancer Institute puts it this way: "Populations consuming diets high in fruits and vegetables tend to have a lower cancer risk." They both mean the same thing, so do what Mama said. The National Cancer Institute suggests eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day. More is better, according to Dr. Giovannucci, and variety is also important. He suggests that you eat, among other things, leafy green vegetables, deeply colored orange vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, garlic and onions, broccoli, and citrus fruits. Listen to Neil Young. Excuse the apparent redundancy, but there's another reason for pinching your overall calorie count besides losing weight. It has to do with the damages of oxidation. "It's the 'Rust Never Sleeps' theory of cancer," Dr. Wurzelmann says. "We're under a lot of oxidative stress. The more we eat, the more the furnace burns and the more likely it is we're going to create something that causes cancer. We can reduce that oxidative stress by reducing our total caloric intake." Hide the beef. Studies consistently show that colon cancer is low wherever meat consumption is low. There is some suggestion that increased meat consumption could also increase the risk for prostate cancer. Vegetarians, even in the United States, have a lower risk of cancer than their carnivorous compatriots. "Try to stay as close to a vegetarian diet as you can," advises William J. Catalona, M.D., chief of urologic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "If you do want to eat meat, try to emphasize fish and chicken and limit the amount of red meat that you eat-ideally, not more than one serving per week." Iron out your risk. Dr. Wurzelmann led a study that showed a connection between high levels of iron and cancer. For the most part, he says, the link is a corollary of the red meat problem. "If you eat beef, you eat iron," Dr. Wurzelmann says. But, he adds, there does seem to be a clear connection between iron overload itself and liver cancer. "People who are supplementing with iron might not be doing themselves a favor," he says. "I think this medical practice deserves serious reappraisal." Get enough selenium. Research has pointed to a "very promising" role for the trace mineral selenium in reducing the risk of several cancers, including prostate and colorectal. "There's more work to do," Dr. Giovannucci says. "But at this point it might be a reasonable thing to take selenium supplements given our current knowledge. More research is necessary to make firm recommendations, though." The Daily Value for selenium is 70 micrograms. Go for the grape. The revered grape has long been a folk cure, but a 1997 study by University of Illinois at Chicago researchers has put some scientific muscle behind the idea. The preliminary evidence in test tubes and animals is that resveratrol, a compound found in grapes and other plants, may slow down tumor growth, block the action of cancer-causing agents, and even clean up precancerous cells. Yes, there's resveratrol in wine, but Varro E. Tyler, Ph.D., dean emeritus of Purdue University School of Pharmacy and Pharmacal Sciences in West Lafayette, Indiana, and distinguished professor emeritus of pharmacognosy (natural pharmaceuticals), suggests taking advantage of the potential benefits by adding some real grapes or a glass of grape juice to your diet. Smother it with onions. If you're in the habit of saying "hold the onions," you might reconsider. Dutch researchers found that volunteers who ate half an onion a day had half the risk of stomach cancer that their sweeter-breath co-subjects did. The heroes in onions are allylic sulfides, which help enzymes neutralize cancer-causing substances. Get enough vitamin C. It's always a controversial topic, but when researchers look into the health role of vitamin C, they usually find that it protects against certain cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute. The best evidence is that it fights cancers of the esophagus, mouth, and stomach. But it also helps fend off pancreas and rectum cancers. *3/36/5* CANCER «Online Pharmacy. Cheap Prescription Drugs.» |