Explore the dietary strategies and modifications needed to reduce cancer risk. Learn how to adopt recommendations in your everyday lifestyle.
Lifestyle risk factors
Breast cancer and prostate cancer are the 2nd and 3rd leading causes of death in the UK. Cancer in general is the 2nd leading cause of death in the US. Hence it is not a surprise that recognising symptomps of cancer is the most terrifying diagnosis for many people. However, incorporating food that fight cancer into your diet can make a significant difference.
In the UK, we have many public health campaigns and champions to alert women of breast cancer symptoms. They all promote the need for screening. However, you may notice that we don’t have the same level of campaign when it comes to prostate cancer.
If you have a poor diet then you have to know that it is associated with cancers. Hence there is something you can do to modify the risk. Please keep in mind that modification of risk does not dismiss you from the need for early detection and diagnosis. It also doesn’t excuse you from having regular checks and talks with your doctor about any worries and symptoms.
Additionally to poor diet there are other lifestyle risk factors.
Those are tobacco use, alcohol consumption and lack of exercise.
All can increase the overall risk of almost all cancers.
What causes cancer development?
Understanding the process of cancer development will help you to understand the need of having regular health exams and regular screening.
What is cancer?
Simply saying, cancer are cells that are misbehaving and not doing what they’re supposed to do.
All your cells are constantly being exposed to DNA damaging events. This means that somewhere in your environment you have damage to your DNA. For example, some exposure if you’re out in the sun, you can damage skin cells, you can damage the DNA in those cells. This is the same thing when it comes to tobacco in all forms. Exposure to certain environmental chemicals. Alcohol can be this DNA damage event.
When you put all of these together, these events are known as initiation. They’re also called the entrance into cancer. Yeah, I know what you are thinking. If that is true then is at risk of cancer! Well, what is certain is that you can’t look into your past and say what was your initiating event but chances are you had one that wasn’t good for you. The good thing is that your body is a self repairing machine and with your help can deal with some damage. Your actions can prevent cells from going wild.
Cancer damaged cells
The damaged cells can go in two specific ways.
The 1st is that the cell can go to cell death. This means that the cell line can die off and this is known as apoptosis. The normal cell mechanisms can’t repair the cell and it dies.
The 2nd is that a damaged cell can progress and the cell can multiply. The development of a blood supply to this cell growth is what we call cancer.
Tumour appears to be made of many different types of cells. This was first discovered in leukaemia. These cells have the characteristics of both abnormal and normal cells. They have been hiding in the background with characteristics of both abnormal and normal cells. This is one of the reasons why cancer can return.
Cancer prevention
Foremost is to eliminate tobacco in all forms (no form of tobacco is safe). Have in mind that tobacco can cause cancer as it is seen as an initiating event. This is a very deadly combination when you combine it with alcohol.
The American Cancer Society suggests that one million skin cancers in the US could be prevented. Sun exposure can cause skin cancer. From my blog post on Vitamin D (Click Here to read ‘Vitamin D and facts you must know before buying supplements’) you know that the sun is a great source of vitamin D. If you would eliminate sun exposure you could eliminate one of your major sources of vitamin D. Sunscreen comes to the rescue. It can be very effective for preventing skin cancer but you must apply it in an appropriate way and with the higher SPF rating.
Exposure to UV light and tanning salons can be just as dangerous and can cause cancer. If you want that overall sun glow you are much better off using a topical suntan fake creams. Don’t risk going to a tanning salon.
Some certain viruses are known to cause cervical cancer and possibly some other cancers. Some vaccines can be given to prevent certain forms.
What about food that fight cancer and healthy lifestyles?
Current thinking is that food and nutrition can cause cancer and act as a cancer cell promoter. It can force that cell line into the development of cancer. But food can also fight cancer and act as a cancer cell killer.
According to the American Cancer Society a balanced diet and weight management can support the prevention of cancer.
If you’re struggling with weight management and exercise you might want to take a moment and think about this. Change perspective and look at that in a positive way. It’s better to prevent than treat cancer. This thought might change the way you look at some of your favourite but not healthy foods that cause cancer.
Basic, minimum recommendation for you is to exercise most days of the week.
However in case of cancer prevention is the dose that matters.
This means that 30 min of exercise is good but 1 hour is better. Your body is design to move.
If you don’t exercise you are increasing insulin resistance. The more insulin you make (insulin is an anabolic hormone; anabolic means building) what you’re doing is you’re promoting cancer development. That is why insulin being an anabolic (building) hormone promotes cancer development. Instantly you want to think about food that fight cancer.
So exercising is part of your ticket to good health.
Simple recommendations
Simple recommendations matter. The American Institute for Cancer Research and the American Cancer Society promotes a plant-based diet as a food that fight cancer. This forms part of normal nutrition and disease prevention.
1. Meat
If you are a meat lover don’t shout out that not in a million years you’ll become a vegetarian. It’s not what this means. A plant-based diet means that the more of your plate is loaded by vegetables the better.
One way that you might want to think about this is to think of having a meatless Monday. Let your main dish on Monday night be vegetarian. By vegetarian I’m talking about beans and not necessarily just cheese or other fat foods . Can you introduce this as your new healthy habit? You can choose different foods that maybe you haven’t tried before. Maybe it’s a veggie burger with a big plate of three bean salads.
Study in the US, which included over half a million subjects, suggested that those who consume the highest amount of red meat have a higher mortality rate. As well as heart disease and cancer. This study developed a diet known as the NIH AARP Diet.
So what are some big recommendations from this study? Reduce the meat and avoid grilling, especially marinating. You may wonder how they come to such a conclusion? Marinating can increase the charring of grilled meat. But it appears that beer and wine-based marinades might actually reduce the risk and the science is still emerging on this. It’s the charred meat that can cause cancer.
The increase in high temperatures with high protein foods increases the production of the charred byproducts of grilling.
If you burn your grilled meat then trim off as much of that. Trim off the blackened piece and maybe flavour it up with a little bit more barbecue sauce. Trim off the burn portion and don’t eat it.
2. Whole grains
You should eat more whole grains as that really matters in terms of cancer prevention. Whole grains are your top food fighting cancer medalist. They are going to have more fibre and are going to be this awesome compound called a prebiotic food.
3. Alcohol
The best approach is no alcohol because alcohol is going to serve as an initiating event. However, if you do drink alcohol the recommendation is to limit it to 1 drink per day for women and 2 for men.
4. Cured meats
Avoid cured meats. These are processed meats like bacon, ham and hot dogs. You can find cured turkey products in shops like turkey hot dogs and everyone seems to believe it’s better. The problem is not the meat but the curing of the meat that is going to increase cancer risk. Nitrosamines are cancer causing compounds that are formed when meats are cured. Now you understand why they should be eliminated from everyone’s diet.
Vitamins aren’t the key component in cancer prevention
When you think about your plant-based meals, think about colour, lots of colours.
5. White pigment
White has compounds called indoles. Those are the whites in the greens. These are also known as cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kale. They all have the whites in the greens.
Cauliflower has vitamin C so it’s good but it’s not the vitamins in the fruits in the vegetables that are cancer preventers. Most of the vitamin studies have fallen short on this. It’s the pigments, that are going to be the nutritional heroes in fruits and vegetables.
Indoles reduce the production of one of the stages of cell division in the cancer process. They can act as negative oestrogen regulators and alter the effects of oestrogen in cell cancer.
Think about this one for a second. Most of the breast cancers are women with oestrogen receptor positive. That means that you are vulnerable as a woman of increased risk of breast cancer. You are vulnerable to the increased amounts of oestrogen. Indoles can actually down regulate that oestrogen receptor. It may reduce your risk of the most common form of breast cancer. Research also suggests that they can be invaluable in the prevention of cervical cancer. Particularly in those who have those called pre-cancerous cervical dysplasia that they’re already in that suspicious range. Indoles may be preventative.
There is also a potential role in the prevention of prostate cancer. Hence, think about creative ways in which you can put more broccoli and cabbage, coleslaw into your diet. Choose food that fight cancer before it even evolves.
An interesting fact that you should know about!
A lot of energy bars and nutrition bars are a group of compounds called soy isoflavones.
They are originated from soybeans.
Whole soy may be protective against the development of breast cancer but you probably shouldn’t be using products containing soy protein isolate or an isoflavone.
They may actually interfere with treatment and cause cancer to worsen.
6. Red pigment
Lycopene is the red pigment. I want you to think of the food. Those are things like tomatoes, pink grapefruit, watermelon.
Juices of these fruits and vegetables are beneficial but whole food is preferred. For example, if you’re travelling and drinking tomato juice that’s great when you don’t have a fruit or veggie. That’s a great plan. Not quite as good but it’s almost as good as the whole fruit or vegetable.
Lycopene acts as an antioxidant protecting those wonderful cell membranes. It may prevent abnormal cell division.
Epidemiological studies show a relationship between those who have low levels of lycopene in their blood and an increased prevalence of prostate cancer. However currently studies have not demonstrated the prevention of prostate cancer through increased consumption of lycopene but again the science is emerging on this topic so stay tuned.
Cooked tomatoes actually have an increased amount of bioavailable lycopene. You may think that it’s a first example where raw is not as good as cooked. So when you’re having your meatless Monday and you’re trying a veggie burger, put ketchup on it.
7. Gold pigment
Spice up your food with some additional colours. Think about gold colour like turmeric. Turmeric is a traditional curry spice and is called a cancer prevention powerhouse. The active compound is curcumin and it induces cell death. It has been studied in colon cancer in leukaemia.
So again maybe on your meatless Monday you might want to try a chickpea curry and add some turmeric to it to have a double cancer preventing diet.
An interesting fact that you should know about!
There can be some downsides of using turmeric.
If you use turmeric as a supplement and not as a spice, it may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy.
Therefore, you can see that some products used for the prevention of cancer are not a good idea during cancer treatment. This is where you need to talk to your doctor.
8. Yellow and orange pigments
Those are carrots, corn and cantaloupe. In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, carotenoids were found to decrease the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. It’s very important to remember that it’s the carotenoids that are the yellow, orange pigments. Hence the carotenoids are the type of food that fight cancer and may reduce the risk of cancer in first place.
9. Blues, purples and some additional reds
Those are berries with a good example of blueberries. Their pigment compound is called anthocyanidins. Anthocyanins in blueberries, raspberries, strawberries contain these amazing chemicals that can repair the DNA damage. Again, if you think about initiating event that happened and you’re trying to rescue cells, berries are here to come and play a vital role. You need to remember that the damage to DNA cells is the first step of cancer development so these berries have the potential to stop cancer in its tracks.
10. Green pigment
Your food that fight cancer are those like apples, chili peppers, spinach, olives.
Are you up for green tea? Tea outside of water is the most popular beverage. It is brewed from the leaves of the camellia senses plant rich in polyphenol compounds.
Some green tea may stimulate your metabolic rate although it’s a slight increase in your metabolic rate. This doesn’t give you the licence to go out and eat the 800 calorie cake.
What role vitamins play?
Vitamins may play a role in the prevention of cancer.
Folic acid
Folic acid is a B vitamin and it is needed for DNA synthesis. A major study in China has linked low levels of folic acid with breast cancer. It means that if you have a low level of folic acid in your blood it increases the risk and can cause breast cancer. Folic acid may also help in the prevention of pancreatic and colon cancer.
A popular chemotherapeutic drug to treat cancer and a standard treatment for rheumatoid arthritis is called Methotrexate. Cancer needs folic acid to divide and replicate. If Methotrexate removes the folic acid, it promotes cell death. The challenge is that your healthy cells also need folic acid. So this becomes one of the reasons why people often lose their hair.
Having a Methotrexate treatment and also having a folic acid in the diet may actually reduce the effectiveness of the drug.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D from sunlight or from supplements may be effective in the prevention of breast cancer. Many women with breast cancer were shown to have deficiency in this vitamin.
Vitamin D helps the cell to have normal differentiation. It sends the cell in the direction it should be.
However, in men with aggressive prostate cancer, the higher blood levels of vitamin D is associated with an increased mortality recall.
The American Cancer Society studies suggested that those who take vitamin E for 10 years may reduce the risk of bladder cancer. But on the other hand the select study demonstrated that taking vitamin E and selenium together was not an effective strategy for the prevention of prostate cancer.
