Eat to Beat Cancer

Eat to Beat Cancer

Cancer is a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people in America alone every year. It has taken the lives of many. Cancer can infect any part of the body and there is no known cure for cancer yet. As Susan Calhoun and Jane Bradley state in their book, Nutrition, Cancer, and You: What You Need to Know, and Where to Start, "No special diet by itself will replace the proven methods of treatment. However, a nutritionally-balanced diet is essential during treatment time so your body can best fight the disease" (Clahoun). Diets can be a remedy in the fight against cancer. Certain foods can increase your chances of getting cancer and others can reduce your chances. Many studies have come to the conclusion that eating the right foods can significantly decrease your chances of getting cancer and if you are currently undergoing treatment for cancer the foods that you eat can have a large impact in fighting the disease.

Cancer is a growing disease affecting many people. Its stated in an article on Web MD titled "Hey, Man: Want to Cut Your Risk of Prostate Cancer?", that "Each year, roughly 200,000 men in the U.S. are diagnosed with prostate cancer, and about 30,000 men die from the disease. Prostate Cancer is the number two cancer killer, second only to lung cancer" (Boyles). Gloria McVeigh published an article in Prevention Magazine where she states "Breast cancer strikes more than 200,000 women a year, and the younger you are, the more aggressive and deadly it can be" (McVeigh). On another Web MD article titled "Red Meat Diet Linked to Certain Cancers", on December 21, 2001, Michael Smith states that:

More than 20,000 Americans will get stomach cancer this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Nearly 13,000 will die. Most of these people will be in their 60s and 70s. All of these various studies conclude that cancer is a growing disease linked to the foods that have become a regular part of Americans' diets.

Certain foods have a negative impact on your health, contributing an increase in your risks of cancer. "Compared with the healthy diet, the people who ate a high-meat diet were more than 3.5 times as likely to have cancer of the esophagus and almost three times as likely to have cancer of the stomach" (Smith). A high-milk diet, that also had large amounts of red meat, and high white-bread diets, more than doubled the risks of both types of cancers. Diets with high amounts of salty snacks almost tripled the risks. Red meat, white bread, salty snacks and milk are all regular parts of diet but when consumed in excessive amounts unbalanced with fruits and vegetables can prove to be very hazardous.

Cancer can be prevented by the foods that are a part of daily meals. Dairy products, fish, all vegetables, citrus fruit and juices, and dark bread, poultry, dark-yellow vegetables, cereals and tomatoes all reduce the risks of cancer as stated on various Web MD articles. Another Web MD article titled "Diet & Exercise, It's for Cancer too" constructed a study on Asian women to better understand why they were at lower risks of being infected with cancer. "The most provocative finding: Women who ate the most vegetables and fruits were the least likely to get breast cancer. No single fruit/vegetable or group of fruits or vegetables accounted for the finding. Surprisingly, soy consumption had no effect on whether the women did or didn't have cancer" (DeNoon).

Eating habits are one of the largest contributing factors to cancer. A great example of this is a study that was done by Dr. William J Arson and his colleagues which has been posted on Web MD. Arson and his colleagues collected blood samples from 13 overweight men. Participants were in their 40 and 80 and said that they normally ate high-fat diets and got little exercise. They were put on a low fat, high fiber diet for 11 days, as well as exercise routine of walking at a brisk pace for 30 minutes to an hour, four to five times per week. At the end of the 11-day period, prostate cancer cells were mixed with the men's blood. The cancer cells grew 30% slower than before the diet and exercise program. When the cancer cells were mixed with