If there was a pill you could take every day to prevent cancer, would you take it. You would say yes. Would you take a pill that could kill cancer cells, of course, you would. There is no pill, but there is a diet that you can eat that has been proven to reduce your risk of getting cancer and kill cancer cells. Find out what the best diet to prevent cancer is.
We all know someone who has been affected by cancer, and it is never something we want to think about. It seems almost every day in the news there is a story about someone else passing away because of cancer, at too young an age.
Food Can Cause Cancer or Prevent Cancer
Approximately 40% of cancer diagnoses could be prevented by a change in diet. This number goes up to 90% for certain cancers, such as stomach cancer.
The following two studies show just how important our diet is to our health.
A meta-analysis of 29 studies found that a diet high in red meat increases the risk of colon cancer by 28%, and a high consumption of processed meat increases risk by 20%. [1]
This means that the more you eat red meat or processed meats like beef, pork, sausage, bacon, ham, deli meats, and sliced lunch meats like chicken or turkey, you increase your risk of colon cancer.
Just like there are foods that increase the risk of cancer, there are foods that can prevent cancer and even kill cancer cells preventing them from spreading.
A cervical cancer study comparing radiation therapy versus blueberry extract found that radiation therapy killed 20% of the cancer cells while the blueberry extract killed 25% of the cancer cells. Radiation treatments also kill healthy cells, while blueberries would not.
According to Dr. Fang, “Along with reducing cell proliferation, the blueberry extract also 'tricks' cancer cells into dying. So it inhibits the birth and promotes the death of cancer cells.” [2]
“Along with reducing cell proliferation, the blueberry extract also 'tricks' cancer cells into dying. So it inhibits the birth and promotes the death of cancer cells.” – Dr. Yujiang Fang
The Healthiest Diet to Prevent Cancer
The best diet to prevent cancer is by eating a whole food plant-based diet. This way of eating includes all of the foods that are known to fight and prevent cancer, plant foods.
A whole food plant-based diet also excludes all refined vegetable and seed oils because they are nothing but empty calories that lead to weight gain and obesity. Obesity raises the risk of cancer.
A whole food plant-based diet can prevent cancer in several ways such as:
- Easy weight loss
- Contains all of the cancer-preventing superfoods that can kill cancer cells
- High in cancer-fighting phytochemicals or phytonutrients
- Eliminates animal proteins that can lead to a higher risk of cancer
- Lowers the level of tumor-promoting IGF-1 in our body
Cancer Preventing Superfoods
When you look at a list of cancer-preventing superfoods, every one of those foods is are plant foods. A few cancer-preventing superfoods include:
- Broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, and carrots
- Strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries
- Garlic and onions
- Whole grains
- Beans of all kinds
- Flaxseeds that contain lignans and omega-3 fatty acids
Plant foods contain at least 4,000 different phytochemicals or phytonutrients. These phytonutrients enhance our health by:
- Preventing DNA damage and helping DNA to repair itself
- Boosting our immune system to fight off cancer and other diseases
- Blocking substances we eat, drink and breathe from becoming carcinogens, preventing cells from becoming cancerous
- Slowing the growth rate of cancer cells
- Triggering damaged cells to commit suicide before they can reproduce
- Reducing inflammation that makes cancer growth more likely
- Makes Your Blood Hostile to Cancer
Using TUNEL imaging, it was found that women eating a standard American diet will kill off a few breast cancer cells.
But then, after 14 days of eating a low fat (10% or less of calories from fat) vegan plant-based diet as prescribed by Dr. Dean Ornish, the image made from blood applied to breast cancer cells reveals dramatically more cancer cell death. Their blood became hostile to cancer.
The blood circulating in those eating a low-fat vegan plant-based diet had 8 times the cancer-killing power than those that ate the standard American diet.
Similar studies found the same advantages with many types of cancer.
Another study found this same effect with men and prostate cancer. Their prostate cancer was reduced by 70% when they switched to eating a whole food plant-based diet. Eating a plant-based diet made their blood 8 times less hospitable to cancer [3].
The following video by Dr. Michael Greger explains this below.
IGF-1 and Cancer
IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1) is a hormone that promotes growth, which is great when you are young and growing, but not so great when you’re older.
IGF-1 production in our body starts to diminish in our late teens. As adults, we don’t want excess IGF-1 from animal proteins in our body. This extra IGF-1 from our diet can turn against us and promote tumors to grow by stimulating cell growth.
Studies indicate that the risk of colon, pancreatic, breast and prostate cancers is related to the circulating levels of IGF-1. The more circulating IGF-1, the higher the cancer risk becomes [4].
The excess IGF-1 in our diet comes from animal protein found in milk, cheese, and meats. Studies have found that only the protein from animal foods raises IGF-1 levels, but protein from plants did not raise these levels.
Methionine and Cancer
Methionine is an essential amino acid, meaning we need to get it from food. Our body needs methionine, just not too much of it.
Cancer cells have a dependency on methionine. Studies have found that certain cancer cells stop growing and die when they are deprived of methionine.
The foods that contain the most methionine are:
- Fish
- Beef
- Chicken
- Pork
- Turkey
- Milk
- Cheese
One of the best dietary ways to prevent cancer is to eat a methionine restriction diet, and there is no better diet to restrict methionine than a whole food plant-based diet.
Obesity and Cancer
Obesity is one of the leading causes of cancer and has been linked to at least 13 types of cancer [5]. Losing weight is one of the best ways to lower your risk of cancer.
Eating a whole food plant-based diet is a great way to lose weight. A plant-based diet is a nutrient-dense diet, meaning that it is full of nutrients while being low in calories. You will feel full and not even have to count calories.
Complex carbohydrates do not cause obesity. That is just a big plant-based myth. A baked potato, for example, has only 161 calories and plenty of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. You cannot gain weight eating a baked potato.
Eating a whole food plant-based diet is a great way to lose weight. A plant-based diet is a nutrient-dense diet, meaning that it is full of nutrients while being low in calories. You will feel full and not even have to count calories.
Complex carbohydrates do not cause obesity. That is just a big plant-based myth. A baked potato, for example, has only 161 calories and plenty of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. You cannot gain weight eating a baked potato.
TMAO, Gut Bacteria and Cancer
At first, studies linked eggs, meat and too much fat in our diet to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. More recently, studies have found a direct link between these foods and an increased risk of colorectal cancer [6].
When these animal foods are eaten, they are metabolized by our gut bacteria and produce TMAO (trimethylamine N-oxide). TMAO has now been linked with an increased risk of major adverse health issues.
The Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study found that women with the highest TMAO levels had 3.4 times higher risk of colorectal cancer when compared to women with the lowest levels [7].
You Can Prevent Cancer Starting Today
Hundreds of studies show that it is just as important to eat the right foods as it is to avoid the bad foods. A whole-food plant-based no-oil diet is the best way to eat to prevent cancer and also lower your risk of many other types of diseases.
A Whole-Food Plant-Based way of eating is the closest thing we have to a pill that can prevent cancer and possibly even reverse cancer.
About The Author
Sam Montana is a certified Food Over Medicine instructor from the Wellness Health Forum Center and certified in optimal nutrition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
© 2019 Sam Montana/Healthy Food and Life
Resources:
[2] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171229135254.htm
[3] Nutrition Facts: Cancer Reversal Through Diet
[4] PubMed - Kaaks R. Nutrition, insulin, IGF-1 metabolism and cancer risk: a summary of epidemiological evidence. Novartis Found Symp. 2004;262:247-60; discussion 260-68. PMID: 15562834.
[5] National Cancer Institute - Cancers Associated with Overweight and Obesity
[6] PubMed - Xu R, Wang Q, Li L. A genome-wide systems analysis reveals strong link between colorectal cancer and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a gut microbial metabolite of dietary meat and fat. BMC Genomics. 2015;16 Suppl 7(Suppl 7):S4. doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-16-S7-S4. Epub 2015 Jun 11. PMID: 26100814; PMCID: PMC4474417.
[7] PubMed - Cancer Res. 2014 Dec 15; 74(24): 7442–7452.
Published online 2014 Oct 21. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-14-1835
