Diet and Cancer: 5 of the best anti-cancer foods
And why you need to add them to your daily diet.
In the last blog I talked about 9 key factors that can improve your chances of surviving cancer, with one of those factors being that many cancer survivors radically change their diets in order to overcome their cancer diagnosis. Diet and cancer often go hand in hand, but unfortunately not always for the right reasons. However, we can change this. One of the most powerful choices that you can make every single day, in fact, multiple times a day, is to choose what to eat. I want to help you to make better food choices, food choices that will help you not only survive your cancer diagnosis but enable you to be thriving long after it.
Here I talk about 5 of the best anti-cancer foods out there and explain a little about what makes each one so special.
If you would like to understand more about which other diet and lifestyle modifications can significantly reduce your risk of cancer recurrence, support you through your cancer journey, and reduce your risk of recurrence, then register for our 90 Day Cancer Support Programme. Through this programme we help empower you through increased knowledge, to implement the necessary changes in a sustainable manner. Life long changes that will make a huge difference to your overall health and disease risk profile. We aim to:
Improve your knowledge of what to eat & why: Giving you greater confidence and control over your potential outcome.
Support your immune system: To keep you feeling well, improve your potential outcome, and to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence.
Improve your energy levels and mood: Thereby improving your overall sense of wellbeing, and enabling you to put your energy into improving your health.
Optimise your nutritional status: To keep you feeling well, improve your potential outcome, and to reduce your risk of cancer recurrence.
Improve your healing after surgery: Through better nutritional choices.
Support your gut health: To reduce any adverse digestive symptoms and side effects, and to improve nutrient absorption.
Maintain your muscle mass: To keep you physically strong, better able to cope with any treatments offered, and improve your potential outcome.
Minimise treatment side effects: Aiming to mitigate the negative impact of any standard treatment received.
Reduce your risk of cancer recurrence: Through better nutrition and lifestyle choices.
Improve your quality of life: Through holistic support, helping you to thrive long after your cancer diagnosis.
If you don’t have an active or recent cancer diagnosis and are interested in ensuring that you stay this way, then we can help support you . Check out our 90 Day Health and Wellbeing programme for more information, or alternatively, if you have any questions then send us a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
5 of the best anti-cancer foods: to include in your diet every day
1) Legumes / Beans
Such as: chickpeas, butter beans, black beans, black eyed beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, cannellini beans, haricot beans, edamame, split peas (yellow or green), garden peas, lentils (red, brown, green, puy/French, beluga), tofu and tempeh.
In 2007, one of the most comprehensive analyses of diet and cancer ever undertaken was published by the American Institute for Cancer Research (1). This landmark report included as one of its key cancer prevention recommendations that wholegrains and/or legumes be eaten with every meal. That’s not monthly, weekly or even daily but with every single meal!
Legumes are nutritional power-houses
Legumes provide high quality protein, which essentially means that they contain in sufficient nutritional quantities all nine essential amino acids (i.e. those that our body cannot make itself) and can be eaten as a direct replacement for animal protein.
Legumes are very nutrient dense, providing plenty of protein, iron and zinc, as found in other protein sources like meat, but also containing high levels of nutrients concentrated in the vegetable world, such as fibre, folate, potassium, selenium, magnesium and B vitamins.
Legumes are a good source of fibre. Diets high in fibre are known to be protective against several types of cancer, including, colorectal, stomach, ovarian, endometrial and breast cancer.
Legumes are naturally low in saturated fat and sodium.
Legumes are free from cholesterol.
In addition to these wonderful health promoting qualities, legumes contain the active ingredients, saponin, proteases inhibitors and phytic acid, which scientists believe play a role in cancer prevention.
Saponins: inhibit the reproduction of cancer cells and slow the growth of tumours.
Protease inhibitors: Slow the division of cancer cells and prevent tumours from releasing substances called proteases that destroy nearby cells.
Phytic acid: slows the progression of tumours significantly
All factors which firmly plant these tasty little morsels among the 5 best anti-cancer foods out there. And its also comforting to know that while they are helping protect you from cancer they are simultaneously lowering your risk of heart disease and diabetes.
2) Wholegrains
Such as: brown rice, millet, oats, rye, popcorn, bulgur wheat, couscous, barley, polenta, whole-wheat pasta, whole-grain bread, plus the pseudo grains quinoa, buckwheat and wild rice.
For cancer prevention, wholegrains and/or legumes were recommended by the same leading study to be eaten with every meal (1). That is 3 times a day, every single day, so potent are their anti-cancer properties.. All grains must be in their whole form and not refined.
One of the primary hallmarks of cancer is Inflammation (2) and wholegrains have been demonstrated in a myriad of studies to reduce key inflammation markers in the body, such as C-Reactive Protein (CRP). In fact for each daily serving of wholegrains, CRP concentrations have been estimated to reduce by around 7% (3), which is great news for cancer prevention.
3) Berries
Such as: Açai berries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, goji berries, mulberries, raspberries and strawberries.
All fruits are healthy and great anti-cancer foods but berries are possibly the healthiest of all for a number of reasons. Due to their vibrant colours they are packed full of anti-oxidants, in fact, the colours are the anti-oxidants, so consider this when shopping for your fruit and vegetables, go for the darkest berries, the reddest strawberries and the bluest of blueberries.
In addition to being powerful anti-oxidants, certain berries have also been shown in studies to contain a wide variety of active anti-cancer components, which can for example, inhibit tumorigenesis (i.e. the formation of a tumour), suppress tumour growth, and have anti-proliferative and anti-metastatic properties.
4) Other Fruits
Such as: Apples, dried apricots, avocados, bananas, citrus fruits, dates, grapes, kiwifruit, lychees, mangos, melons, papaya, passion fruit, peaches, pears, pineapple, plums, pomegranates, prunes and watermelon.
There are just so many mouth-watering and delicious fruits to choose from. All fruits are extremely healthful and contain a wide range of health promoting properties, such as being high in fibre and essential vitamins and minerals. Similar to berries, the more colourful the fruit the higher the anti-oxidant properties, so red grapes, pomegranate seeds, mangos, watermelons (and their seeds) and red apples, for example, are all great choices. However, fruits (and vegetables) contain a whole host of other beneficial components, known as phytonutrients, many of which have been shown to act as anti-proliferative agents, to inhibit angiogenesis (i.e. new blood vessel formation which is key to enabling tumour growth), to stimulate the immune system and to promote more effective detoxification of carcinogens.
The impact on cancer of some fruits has been studied more than others. For example, it was shown that eating just one apple a day (with the skin on) resulted in a 24% lower risk of breast cancer, as well as significantly lower odds of ovarian cancer, laryngeal cancer, and colorectal cancer compared to those who averaged less than one apple per day (4). That’s with just one apple a day! Think how much lower the risk could be if you also threw in a handful of berries, some dried fruit and some pomegranate seeds.
Photo by Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash
5) Cruciferous Vegetables
Such as: Bok choy, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, khol rabi, rocket, radishes, swede, turnips and watercress.
Cruciferous vegetables have been shown to potentially prevent DNA damage and metastatic cancer spread, activate defences against pathogens and pollutants, to help prevent lymphoma, to increase the livers ability to detoxify carcinogens, to target breast cancer stem cells and to reduce the risk of prostate cancer progression (5). It is believed that the component responsible for these benefits is sulforaphane, which is produced almost exclusively in cruciferous vegetables.
Sulforaphane is the result of a chemical reaction between its precursor compound and an enzyme called myrosinase, which is denatured with heat. Therefore, to obtain the greatest amount of this special anti-cancer component from the food that you eat, either:
Eat it raw: great for Bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, kale, khol rabi, rocket, radishes, turnips and watercress as all can be simply cut or grated into salads, or
Chop it around 40 minutes prior to cooking: if you want to cook so that the enzyme can do its work before the heat deactivates it.
Creating a body in which cancer cannot thrive.
Food is an extremely powerful tool in the prevention of cancer. Making better choices about what you nourish your body with each and every day, can greatly improve the chances of a positive outcome for those already with a diagnosis. Plant foods contain a wide variety of anti-cancer components which makes them the very best anti-cancer foods available. However, as with most things, some are just a little bit better than others and I hope that I have helped you to understand why these 5 food groups are among the best.
I appreciate and know from my own experience that all this information can be a little overwhelming. There is so much conflicting information out there as to what can help protect us from cancer, that you may not know what to believe anymore. It can be especially challenging for those with a recent diagnoses, who just don’t know what to do for the best.
I have been in your situation and I felt totally overwhelmed. If this is you and you would like some help navigating through this challenging time then please look at how we can help you.
There are so many positive steps, through more positive food choices and lifestyle changes, that you can take to improve your situation and we can help to determine where best to focus. Take a look at our 90 Day Cancer Support Programme for more information as to how we can help you, or alternatively, if you have any questions then send us a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Sarah Eglin: Registered Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (mBANT) and breast cancer ‘thriver’
If you would like to read more about my personal experience with breast cancer and my journey back to great health then please click on the following links for more in depth information.
You can also join my Facebook group - Become a Cancer ‘Thriver’ and follow us on Facebook or Instagram.
References
(1) World Cancer Research Fund / American Institute for Cancer Research. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective. Washington, D.C.: AICR, 2007.
(2) Hanahan, D & Weinberg, RA. (2011). ‘Hallmarks of Cancer: The Next Generation.’ Cell Vol 144 (5), p646-674.
(3) Lefevre, M & Jonnalagadda, S. (2012). ‘Effect of whole grains on markers of subclinical inflammation.’ Nutr Rev. Vol 70(7), p387-96
(4) Gallus et al. (2005). ‘Does an apple a day keep the oncologist away?’ Ann Oncol. Vol 16(11), p1841-4
(5) Gregor, M. (2016). How Not to Die. London. Macmillan.