It is often said that what we eat is what we are. Does this mean that an unhealthy diet can lead to cancer? Is it also true that a cancer prevention diet can lower your risks of getting the disease? These are important questions to ask since research shows that there might be a direct link between the consumption of certain foods and disease.
It is worth looking at how harmful an unhealthy diet can be and what cancer risk it poses. Researchers have found that the diet rich in animal fats increases the chance of prostate cancer in men significantly. Similarly, above normal weight and obesity put women at higher risk of endometrial (uterus) cancer during menopause. There is strong evidence to suggest that an unhealthy diet full of fats and lower in fiber can increase the risk of colorectal cancer and other types of gastrointestinal cancer.
Given all this, it can be safely said that an unhealthy diet may increase your risk of getting cancer. The main question is whether the opposite is true. Can a healthy diet aid prevention? The truth is that there is no direct link found between food and cancer. This means that there are no known foods or food substances that can cause the development of a malignant tumor. Given the example above, not all men having a diet rich in animal fat will develop prostate cancer.
All this comes to show that even if you avoid the unhealthy foods, such as red meat and butter, this will not guarantee that you will not get cancer. This may reduce your chances of getting the condition to an extent. Similarly, some foods and some of the chemical compounds they contain, in particular, are claimed to prevent cancer.
However, there is usually no full proof evidence that this is possible. For instance, there is no evidence that resveratrol, contained in grapes, can slow the tumor growth in humans like it slows the tumor growth in mice. In addition, the consumption of some fiber-rich foods, for instance, does not guarantee that you will never get cancer.
Another interesting thing to note is that some foods are considered anti-cancer because their consumption has had a positive effect in studies, but they do not know what causes this positive effect. This is the case with tomatoes, for instance. Their consumption may lower your risk of getting cancer, but it is not clear which of their ingredients work and how.
After all the arguments are presented, it is now time to ask - what is the verdict? The best answer here is that healthy diet can help reduce the cancer risk to an extent. It should be used for prevention. However, it is not a foolproof method for cancer prevention. Even if you adopt a healthy diet, this does not mean that you reduce your cancer risk to zero. For this reason, other adequate measures for prevention, such as regular screening tests, should be taken as well.
In general, a healthy diet may reduce your risk of cancer significantly or very little. The important thing to keep in mind is that healthy nutrition can bring you a lot of other health benefits. These include general health and heart and gastrointestinal health, in particular. It is worth asking what kind of diet can help in the prevention of cancer to an extent.
The foods that may increase your risk are red meats and sugar. The fat-rich dairy products are also not particularly healthy. Hence, it is worth reducing their consumption. Additionally, it should be pointed out that the way you cook the meat can also reduce the risk of cancer. When you fry, grill or broil meat, some chemical compounds in it are transformed and can become dangerous. For this reason, stewing and steaming are recommended.
The beneficial foods to include in your diet are vegetables and fruits. The green leafy vegetables, the ones from the cabbage family, such as cauliflower, tomatoes and asparagus are beneficial and may help prevent cancer. The consumption of beans is highly recommended as well. Strawberries, raspberries and blueberries may also reduce your cancer risk significantly and improve your general health. This is applicable to the fiber-rich fruits, such as apples and cherries.
Overall, the healthy diet can only bring you benefits and may help prevent cancer to a great extent.
No comments:
Post a Comment