Eight diet ideas to avoid cancer

3 November, 2007

That prevention is better than cure holds good in the case of cancer, too.

An international team of experts, which spent several years reviewing thousands of scientific studies, has now come out with a set of 8 guidelines to help people all over the world to reduce the risk of getting cancer.

Among the 8 steps, 6 relate directly to diet.

The basic focus of the recommendations is on weight loss, exercise, and a diet that limits foods known to increase the risk of cancer.

According to Jeffrey Prince, an official of the American Institute for Cancer Research, which co-sponsored the study, a key message is that reducing the
risk of cancer is within our control. He explains, “There are changes that you can make in the way you live. There are choices that you can make about diet, physical activity, and weight management which will reduce you risk of ever contracting this terrible disease.”

The first and foremost recommendation in order to reduce the risk of getting cancer is that you must be lean as possible as you can, of course, without getting dangerously underweight.

To achieve this, the report by the international team of experts recommends a mostly vegetarian diet, with only 500 grams of red meat a week, with very little of that processed meat; and limited amounts of energy-packed foods that are made with a lot of fats and sugar.

Also, limit use of salt to about 6 grams a day. Women should have no more than one drink of alcohol a day, and men, two drinks at the most.

Besides, the experts recommend physical activity, with a brisk walking of 30 minutes a day, to start with.

Phillip James, of the World Cancer Research Fund, the other co-sponsor of the report, says exercise helps in two ways – “exercise is intrinsically beneficial, and it also helps to keep one’s weight down.”

For new mothers, the report also recommends breastfeeding. It is common knowledge that mother’s milk is the perfect food for a newborn.

Walter Willett, of Harvard University, and a member of the research team, says research revealed that mother’s milk can also help prevent cancer in the mother.

“Our report,” adds Walter Willett, “found convincingly that mothers who breastfeed reduce their own chances of developing pre-menopausal and post-menopausal breast cancer. This benefit of breastfeeding is probably related to hormonal factors.”

In fact, obesity, one of the major risk factors for cancer, has long been associated with wealthy, developed countries. However, Dr Phillip James, chairman of the International Obesity Taskforce, is of the opinion that this notion is changing, and policy-makers in poorer countries need to take notice.

Dr Phillip James elaborates on this, “The biggest challenge for governments is that, in Africa and Asia, as people come from the poor villages, they come into a city where the cheapest and simple foods that keep the longest are the energy-dense foods, which is precisely what we think is contributing to their problem. And, in this report we show that there is a dramatic swing in the type and magnitude of the cancer risk as you go through that – what is called nutrition transition.”

As early as the 1980s, experts have been saying that about one-third of all cancers could be prevented.

However, the experts have not asked people to quit smoking in their highlighted recommendations. The experts explained this omission by saying that the link between tobacco use and cancer is so well-established and well-known that they decided to focus on other areas where public education might have more results.

The eight guidelines released by the American Institute for Cancer Research to avoid cancer are:

Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight.

Be physically active as part of everyday life.

Limit consumption of “energy-dense foods,” foods that are high in calories, fat and sugar.

 Avoid sugary drinks.

Eat mostly foods of plant origin, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans.

Limit intake of red meat and avoid processed meat.

Limit alcoholic drinks to one per day for women, two per day for men.

Limit consumption of salt.

Avoid moldy grains or legumes.

Aim to meet nutritional needs through diet alone, without dietary supplement.