Approximately 30-40% of all of cancers can be prevented with a healthy lifestyle and diet. Too little fiber, the intake of red meat and too little Omega-3 fats with too much Omega-6 fats may contribute to increased risk of cancer, whereas 6-9 servings daily of fruits and vegetables may lower the risk of cancer.
Vegetarian women excrete 2 to 3 times more estrogens in stools than do omnivores, and omnivores have about 50% higher plasma level of available estrone and estradiol than vegetarians, which may explain the lower incidence of breast cancer in vegetarian women.
Protective elements in a cancer-preventive diet include selenium (Brazil nuts), folic acid (leafy greens), vitamin B12, vitamin D, chlorophyll and antioxidants such as carotenoids (alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, cryptoxanthin). Supplementing with oral digestive enzymes and probiotics is an anticancer dietary practice. Vegan diets that are low in protein can be expected to lower elevated serum lipid levels, promote weight loss, and decrease circulating IGF-I activity – all protective factors against breast cancer.
- Diet and cancer.
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- Longitudinal biological exposure to carotenoids is associated with breast cancer-free survival in the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study.
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- Phytanic acid: measurement of plasma concentrations by gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis and associations with diet and other plasma fatty acids.
- Lifelong vegetarianism and risk of breast cancer: a population-based case-control study among South Asian migrant women living in England.
- Mediterranean diet and cancer.
- Vegan proteins may reduce risk of cancer, obesity, and cardiovascular disease by promoting increased glucagon activity.
- Effect of diet on excretion of estrogens in pre- and postmenopausal women.
