The Connection Between Diet And Cancer Essay — страница 2

Singer, author of Animal Liberation suggests that an anti-cancer diet should stay clear of meat at all costs and include the following: Eat at least five to nine servings of a variety of fruits and vegetables each day. These foods are rich in antioxidants that can prevent the initiation of cancerous changes in the cells, and in addition contain a variety of phytochemicals that may work to inhibit cancer in other ways. Make sure to include members of the cabbage family, rich in powerful anti-cancer substances. Increase the amount of fiber in your diet. Since there are different kinds of fiber, eat a variety of whole foods to reap the various benefits they have. Make sure to eat whole grains and beans as well as your daily fruits and vegetables to help protect the gastrointestinal

tract. Reduce fat intake to no more than 20% of daily calories. Since fat is known to be a cancer promoter, this is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself against cancer. Because fats occur naturally in many foods, use only minimal amounts of added fats in cooking, or on your toast in the morning. If you do use oils, use highly monounsaturated ones such as olive or canola. Since meatseven the leanest cutsare relatively high in fat, it’s difficult to reach your low-fat goal while habitually eating animal-based foods. Choose a plant-based diet, low in pre-prepared foods, which are often high in fat. Particularly avoid smoked foods such as ham and bacon and charred or barbecued meats. Smoking and barbecuing, particularly of protein-rich foods, can create

powerful carcinogens. Avoid fried foods. The high heat needed for frying causes cancer-promoting changes in the oils. Eat foods as close to their natural state as possible. Highly processed foods have lost many of their health-promoting nutrients and phytochemicals and may have harmful additives. Limit alcohol intake, which can lead to mouth, esophageal and liver cancers, particularly when associated with smoking. Cut back on coffee. While studies on the coffee/cancer connection are not conclusive, there is some evidence that both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee are mutagenic. Try to eat organically grown produce. Pesticide residues on common foods may cause 20,000 cancers a year, according to a 1987 National Academy of Sciences report. Children are particularly susceptible.

Maintain an appropriate weight for your height and build. Through mechanisms not yet fully understood, overweight people have higher rates of certain cancers. Even though the above listed diet is beneficial for all types of cancer, specific cancers require specific diets. Almost one in seven American women will get breast cancer. These are frightening statistics, but it turns out that there is quite a lot we can do to keep this common cancer at bay. The cabbage family including broccoli, cauliflower, kale and collardsis are rich in an array of anti-cancer phytochemicals. Some of them, called indoles prompt the body to make benign forms of estrogen that don’t promote breast cancer. Soy foods, such as tofu and miso, also appear to be helpful against breast cancer through a

variety of mechanisms. Study after study has demonstrated that women eating high-soy diets have lower rates of this disease. Soy is high in a phytochemical called genistein, which has enough biochemical similarity to estrogen that it can slip, like a key into a keyhole, into estrogen receptors in the breast, locking out the “bad” estrogen. Since most types of breast cancer cells are stimulated by estrogen, a diet that includes soy is a good idea for most women. Citrus fruits may be yet another protector against breast cancer. In an animal trial, limonene, a phytochemical found in citrus fruits, effectively warded off breast cancer. Skin cancer is the most common kind of cancer. Fortunately, most forms of it are usually not deadly. However, the rates of a highly virulent form,

malignant melanoma, are rising alarmingly worldwide. In the U.S., melanoma rates have increased 500% between 1950 and 1985. Researchers speculate that soaring rates may be due to the thinning of the ozone layer, and to ideals of beauty that include a deep tan. Dr. Safai, for many years chief of dermatology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, suggests that a diet high in antioxidants may protect against skin cancer. The American Journal of Epidemiology reports that melanoma patients had significantly lower blood levels of vitamin E and beta-carotene than did people without this skin cancer. A diet high in whole grains and fruits and vegetables will amply provide these valuable antioxidants. In addition, a low-fat diet appears to help protect against skin cancer, according