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Cancer
Risk and Diet Control |
One of the most important things
you can do to reduce your risk of cancer is also one of the simplest:
eat right. If that sounds too easy, rest assured that it is one of the
most critical factors in preventing cancer. In fact, medical research
tells us that diet and nutrition factors can influence 70 percent of all
preventable cancers and 35 percent of cancer deaths in the U.S.
So what are you waiting for? Dig into those
fruits and vegetables, bring on the onion and garlic, and munch on more
grains and nuts. Those are just a few of the foods that contain plant
chemicals that have been shown to keep us healthy.
The Big Picture: Risk Factors
While your diet can have a major influence on
your risk for cancer, it is only one of several lifestyle factors that
play a role. Unlike hereditary risks, diet and other lifestyle factors
are completely within your power to control. Follow the guidelines below
to take action for your health.
| Nutrition: |
Eat
the right foods, get the right nutrients. Read on to learn more. |
| Smoking: |
Quit.
Period. |
| Sun: |
Avoid
overexposure to dramatically reduce your risk of skin cancer. |
| Exercise: |
Remember,
it is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. |
Dietary Recommendations
- Eat a variety of foods in moderation.
- Reduce your total amount of dietary fat to
less than 30 percent of total calories.
- If possible, reduce the saturated fat in
your diet to 20 percent of total calories.
- Cut fat in your diet by eating more fish,
poultry and soy -- and less high-fat meat.
- Use low-fat cooking methods such as
steaming, broiling or baking, instead of frying.
- Get more fiber by eating whole grains,
cereals, dried beans and fruits, and vegetables.
- Choose foods that are rich in vitamin A and
vitamin C.
- Eat more vegetables from the cabbage family.
- Limit your intake of sodium and simple
sugar.
- If you drink alcohol, limit it to four
drinks a week or, at most, one drink a day.
- Be sure you are getting enough calcium in
your diet; take supplements if you need to.
- Consume proteins in moderate amounts.
Follow the Food Pyramid
A good way to help make sure you are following
a healthy eating plan is to use the USDA Food Pyramid as a guide. The
pyramid recommends six groups of food that you need to eat to promote
good health, and it lists them in descending order of the amounts you
need to eat every day. Following the pyramid means eating:
- 6-11 servings of breads and cereals, rice or
pasta
- 2-4 servings of fruit
- 3-5 servings of vegetables
- 2-3 servings of meat, poultry, fish, dried
beans, nuts and eggs
- Sparing amounts of fats and oils for flavor
- If you do use fat in your diet, try to stick
to monounsaturated fat from oil, canola and fish oils; they all
provide Omega-3 fatty acids, which are an important part of a
healthy diet.
What Nutrients Can Do
for You
Nutrients can influence cancer on many levels
-- from whether it develops at all, to how it proliferates if it does.
Most of what we know about nutrition and cancer is based on the results
of a variety of medical research studies.
Fat and Calories
- Although the link between fat intake and
cancer is weak at best, some studies have shown that animals on
low-fat diets have a lower incidence of cancer and a slower pace of
tumor growth.
- The research seems to support the idea that
monounsaturated fat from sources such canola oil and olive oil may
decrease the risk of cancer, while polyunsaturated fat from sources
such as corn oil or safflower oil can increase the risk.
- In animal studies, the effect of reducing
total calories by 30 percent decreased the incidence of cancer in
half the control subjects. Cutting calories may be one of the
simplest ways to reduce the risk of cancer. However, it may not be
such a good idea for people who already have it. Tumor growth can
rob a patient of much energy, so it is important to have enough
calories in the diet to prevent weight loss and wasting.
Fiber
- More than 40 studies support the idea that
fiber can protect against colorectal cancers. Wheat bran, for
example, is a fiber that reduces or dilutes the bile acids that are
known to promote cancer in the colon.
- On the other hand, corn bran, pectin and
agar may increase, rather than inhibit, colon cancer. (Whether a
fiber increases or decreases the risk of cancer depends on what
bacteria it supports in the colon, and what enzymes these bacteria
product that might activate or prevent the initiation of cancer.)
- The protective effects of fiber are
associated with eating fiber-rich foods and not with taking fiber
supplements. To help prevent cancer, get your daily dose of 25-30
grams of fiber from sources like whole-grain foods, fruits and
vegetables, and dried beans.
- As you increase your intake of fiber, you
generally tend to decrease your intake of total fat and calories,
perhaps providing an even greater measure of protection against
cancer.
Non-nutrient food components
- Catechins in teas, sulforaphane in foods
like broccoli and cabbage, and amyl sulfides found in garlic and
onions all have been identified as providing protection against
cancer.
- Limonoids in citrus fruits, isoflavones in
soy foods, lycopenes in tomato and polyphenols in tea also provide a
variety of healthful properties in preventing cancer.
- Idoles, monoterpenes and isothiocyanates are
potential cancer-fighters; they occur naturally in fruits and
vegetables, soy products and teas, particularly green teas.
Protein
- Protein does not seem to be a major factor
in cancer once normal protein intake and protein quality have been
assured. However, there is a consistent and strong relationship
between the consumption of protein-rich red meat and the incidence
of cancers of the colon and rectum. It is a good idea to limit red
meat consumption on a daily basis and to rely instead on other
sources of protein (such as chicken and fish).
- Certain amino acids have been found to
deprive tumor cells of the ability to grow and develop, while others
seem to be highly important to enabling growth. While restricting,
supplementing or otherwise manipulating amino acids may be a valid
medical choice for some cancer patients, it should be undertaken
only under the close supervision of a physician.
Selenium
- Selenium intakes have been found to be low
in cases of various cancers, including breast, gastrointestinal and
colorectal cancers, as well s lymphomas and leukemia. Higher levels
of dietary intake are associated with decreased risk of cancer in
general and of lung, colorectal and prostate cancers in particular.
- Selenium is found in seafood, meats
(especially organ meats), garlic and whole grains. The best way to
get enough selenium is to eat foods which contain it or to take a
multi-vitamin pill which contains it. The recommended daily amount
is 55 micrograms for women and 70 micrograms for men.
- An important caveat: Selenium is toxic at
even low concentrations (as low as 1000 micrograms a day); in toxic
amounts it can cause hair loss, gastrointestinal upset, and
peripheral nerve damage. To avoid excessive doses, rely on foods and
multi-vitamin sources for selenium; never resort to taking selenium
supplements.
Vitamins
- Low levels of vitamin A may increase the
risk of skin cancer.
- Vitamins C and E and beta-carotene are
anti-oxidants which help prevent cancer by inhibiting the formation
and growth of tumors.
- Vitamin C enhances the immune system and may
reduce the cancer-causing potential of pesticides, heavy metals and
industrial-use hydrocarbons by helping to detoxify these compounds.
- Vitamin D has been found to make cells less
resistant to chemotherapy.
- A decreased intake of vitamin E is
associated with lung, colorectal, stomach and bladder cancers.
- Deficiencies in the so-called "lipotropes"
-- B12, folic acid, choline, methionine -- may increase
susceptibility to chemically induced cancers.
Effects of Other
Substances
- Copper, manganese and zinc are elements
which have the notably beneficial effect of inhibiting tumor growth
associated with cancer. They are also needed for anti-oxidant
enzymes to do their work.
- There may be a link between high iron in the
diet, with high transferrin saturation in the blood, and cancers of
the lung, colon, bladder and esophagus.
Things to Avoid
- The use of alcohol, even in moderate
amounts, is associated with increased risk for cancers of the mouth,
larynx, pharynx, esophagus, liver, colon, rectum and breast. Women
at high risk for breast cancer might consider abstaining from it
altogether. There are no known protective effects of alcohol against
cancer to counterbalance the known cancer risks of moderate to heavy
use.
- Alfatoxins are naturally occurring poisons
caused by molds during the harvesting, shipment or storage of foods,
particularly nuts, grains and seeds. Always store these foods in
sealed containers, and throw them away if they become moldy.
- A Zen macrobiotic diet which proceeds
through 10 dietary stages, until one eats only brown rice and water,
is not recommended for preventing cancer. (However, the more liberal
version -- which includes whole grains, fish, nuts, seeds, tofu and
vegetables -- is quite consistent with dietary recommendations for
preventing cancer.) Macrobiotic diets of any kind should be avoided
by people who have cancer already, because they may not provide
enough calories and protein to protect against the wasting effects
-- or cachexia -- associated with cancer.
- Foods grilled at very high temperatures,
especially fatty foods, should be avoided. The smoke produced by the
burning fat produces polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which
may be carcinogenic. You can reduce the negative effects of grilling
by trimming as much as possible from meats, skinning poultry before
broiling, and not putting frozen meats on the grill.
- Smoked foods tend to absorb carcinogens that
are similar chemically to cigarette tars in tobacco smoke.
- Salt-cured, pickled and nitrite-cured foods
may increase the risk of cancer.
 Now
is the time to get a Healthy, Well balanced & Nutritious Diet
customised for yourself
thereby preventing setting in of any unwanted medical condition. This Diet Plan shall be customised for you by renowned Indian Nutritionist Ms Shubi Husain
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