- Experts recommend fresh fruits and vegetables and says it’s not difficult to get at least 2 1 / 2 cups a day as the cancer society recommend.
Experts recommend fresh fruits and vegetables and says it’s not difficult to get at least 2 1 / 2 cups a day as the cancer society recommends
The American Cancer Society says, “Yes.”
The society released updated nutrition and physical-activity guidelines earlier this year that stress the importance of lifestyle in cancer prevention.
“The research continues to show that we can make a difference in our risk for cancer,” said Michelle Eckhart, a Louisville dietitian who manages Jewish Diabetes Care, a service of KentuckyOne Health.
The cancer society’s guidelines call for limiting some foods and beverages, such as red meat and alcohol, and greenlight others.
“There’s no evidence that coffee causes cancer,” said Colleen Doyle, director of nutrition and physical activity for the American Cancer Society. Also, “there’s no evidence that artificial sweeteners increase cancer risk” in the amounts people typically consume.
But the society recommends no more than one alcoholic drink a day for women and no more than two a day for men, said Doyle, a registered dietitian who co-authored the society’s guidelines.
“When consumption increases above those levels, you start to see a variety of cancer risks go up,” Doyle said. And it appears that breast-cancer risk “can increase even at less than that one drink per day.”
To reduce the risk of a variety of cancers, Doyle suggests paying attention to your “overall dietary pattern.”
For example, “eating more fruits and vegetables, especially the colorful ones; eating more whole grains; eating less red and processed meat — we know those combination of things can really make a big difference,” she said.
Exercise and not overeating also are important when it comes to cancer prevention, Doyle said, noting that “if you don’t smoke, the biggest risk factor is overweight and obesity.”
“Physical activity is certainly important from a weight-control perspective,” she said, but there’s also evidence that it “directly reduces the risk of breast cancer and directly reduces the risk of colon cancer — separate and apart from its impact on weight control.”
Eckhart encourages the public to strive for a normal BMI (body mass index), adding, “Trying to reduce your body weight by 7 to 10 percent, I think, is a realistic goal to start with,” she said.
She also suggests “aiming to increase your physical activity as much as possible,” noting even “15 minutes a day is a start in the right direction” if you’re inactive now.
In terms of diet, the guidelines encourage the public to cut back on sugary foods and beverages.
“Foods and beverages that are high in sugar tend to not be high in €1/8 nutrients that we think are important, certainly from an overall health perspective, but a cancer-risk perspective, too,” Doyle said.
“If we’ve got people loading up on cakes and cookies and pies and sodas €1/8 that means they’re probably not eating as many fruits and vegetables or whole grains as certainly we would like to see people eating to help reduce their risk.”
There are a number of possible ways in which fruits and vegetables might cut cancer risks, from reducing inflammation to protecting cell membranes. In some types of cancer, it’s cell-membrane damage “that has the potential to spur a cell to grow on and develop and eventually turn into cancer,” Doyle said.
“We tell people to focus on the most colorful (types of produce) because they tend to have the most antioxidants/phytochemicals in them, and then we encourage a variety because we don’t know which of those antioxidants and phytochemicals are most protective,” she said.
Fruits and vegetables also are prized for their fiber.
“We believe there’s some role for fiber in reducing the risk of colon cancer,” Doyle said. And “there’s more and more evidence that the more fruits and vegetables people eat, the healthier weight they are at, and so especially since weight control is so important to reduce your risk of cancer, eating more fruits and vegetables is really critical for all of us.”
Eckhart recommends fresh fruits and vegetables and says it’s not difficult to get at least 2 1 / 2 cups a day as the cancer society recommends. But it does require a different way of thinking.
“People have to focus on, ‘Oh, I can’t just have burgers and fries,’ or ‘I can’t just have a slice of pizza.’ “
The public also needs to focus on whole grains, which help contribute to a fiber-rich diet and tend to be more nutritious than their refined counterparts, Doyle said. Examples include whole-grain pastas and breads.
But “make sure you’re flipping the package over and reading the actual label,” Eckhart said. Before buying the bread, for example, “you want the first ingredient to be ’100 percent whole wheat,’ or sometimes it will say, ’100 percent stone-ground whole wheat,’ or it may say, ’100 percent whole oat flour.’
“It has to have the word ‘whole’ in it.”
The society encourages the public to limit consumption of red meat and processed meat, noting the possible presence of nitrates and other constituents that could increase cancer risk.
“The evidence is very clear that red and processed meat increase the risk of colon cancer,” Doyle said. “We do encourage people to look at other lean protein sources and even plant protein sources like beans or tofu.”
Eating a variety of fish is another recommended option, but precautions are advised for some groups, such as pregnant women, because some fish can be high in mercury and other contaminants. For example, pregnant and nursing women, those planning to become pregnant, and young children are told to limit their consumption of albacore tuna to no more than 6 ounces per week and canned light tuna to no more than 12 ounces per week.
The society also recommends preparing meat, poultry and fish by baking, broiling, or poaching rather than by frying or charbroiling.
When it comes to soy and alcohol, Doyle offered these caveats.
Alcohol consumption “really is a double-edged sword,” she said. “Moderate cosumption reduces the risk of heart disease, reduces the risk of overall mortality, so in particular with women, we encourage women to look at your risk of heart disease, look at your risk of cancer and breast cancer, and make an informed decision about whether you consume any alcohol or not. Also, it’s a pretty high source of calories.”
As for soy, “the jury’s still out, whether soy reduces your risk for cancer; however, it’s a great source of nutrients,” Doyle said. “It’s a great plant protein source that could take the place of red meat in your diet.”
That’s even true for breast-cancer survivors, Doyle said. “Eating up to about three servings a day of soy foods really is not a problem for breast-cancer survivors,” though she discourages use of concentrated soy supplements.
If you’re a breast-cancer survivor, “if you want to eat tofu or edamame or drink soy milk, great,” Doyle said. “But (you) probably want to stay away from those supplements.”
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