Eating to Prevent Cancer:Eating to Prevent Cancer:How a Healthy Diet and How a Healthy Diet and

Physical Activity May Help Keep Physical Activity May Help Keep You Cancer FreeYou Cancer Free

Where Health Care Professionals Go for Information

Review Date 2/12 O-0539

It is possible to prevent:• 35% of cancers by:

– Following a healthy diet– Maintaining a healthy weight– Having regular physical exercise

• 30% of cancers by:– Not using tobacco

Relationship Between Lifestyle and Cancer

•Many foods and nutrients are linked to cancer prevention

•For cancer prevention, focus on an overall healthy diet, rather than specific foods or nutrients

Relationship Between Lifestyle and Cancer (cont’d)

•Achieve and maintain a healthy weight throughout life

•Keep physically active•Eat a healthy diet, with an

emphasis on plant foods•If you drink alcohol, limit your

intake

American Cancer Society Guidelines

Overweight and inactivity accounts for one third of the worldwide cases of these cancers:• Esophagus• Pancreas• Colon and rectum• Breast (after menopause)• Endometrium (lining of the uterus)• Kidney• Thyroid• Gallbladder

Achieve and Maintain a Healthy Weight

•Stay as lean as possible throughout life without becoming underweight

•Avoid excessive weight gain at all ages

•Know that losing even a small amount of weight has health benefits

Achieve and Maintain a Healthy Weight (cont’d)

Know your body mass index (BMI):• Below 18.5=underweight• 18.5–24.9=normal weight• 25.0–29.9=overweight• 30.0 and above=obese

Maintain a Healthy Weight

•Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables

•Limit simple sugars (cakes, cookies, pies, candies, and sweetened drinks)

•Eat smaller portions of everything

•Add physical activity to your life

Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Weight

•Adults: Get a least 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity each week, spread throughout the week

•Children and adolescents: Get 60 minutes/day of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day, with vigorous activity at least 3 days per week

Stay Physically Active

•Examples include:– Fruits– Vegetables– Legumes

•Packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other substances that work together to lower risks of several cancers

Eat a Healthy Diet: Emphasis on Plant Foods

•Lung cancer•Mouth cancer•Esophageal cancer•Stomach cancer•Colon cancer

Cancers Associated With Low Intake of Plant Foods

•Eat at least 2½ cups of fruits and vegetables each day

•Choose whole grains over processed (refined) grains and sugars

•Limit consumption of processed red meats

Eat a Healthy Diet: Emphasis on Plant Foods

•Choose colorful fruits and vegetables for the most nutrient content

•Select a variety of fruits and vegetables

•Enjoy fruits and vegetables prepared and served without added fat or sugar

Fruits and Vegetables

•Limit consumption if you drink alcoholic beverages

•Drink no more than one drink/day for women and two drinks/day for men

•A drink is 12 fluid ounces (fl oz) of regular beer, 5 fl oz of wine, or 1.5 fl oz of spirits

Alcoholic Beverages

•Oral (mouth)•Pharyngeal (throat)•Esophageal•Laryngeal (voice box)•Breast•Liver

Cancers AssociatedWith Alcohol Intake

•Antioxidants:– Vitamins A, C, E, carotenoids,

and selenium– No evidence supports taking

antioxidant supplements to prevent cancer

Food Components That May Prevent Cancer

•Dietary fiber:– The link between fiber and

cancer is weak– Foods that contain fiber are high

in other nutrients that may prevent cancer

Food Components That May Prevent Cancer (cont’d)

•Phytochemicals:– Compounds made by plants that

may prevent cancer, such as lycopene in tomatoes

– No evidence that phytochemical supplements prevent cancer

Food Components That May Prevent Cancer (cont’d)

•Vitamin D:– Growing evidence shows that

vitamin D may help to prevent colorectal cancer

– In some cases, supplements are recommended for good health, but not necessarily for cancer prevention

Food Components That May Prevent Cancer (cont’d)

•Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage):– These vegetables may contain

phytochemicals that reduce cancer risk

– A wide variety of vegetables is recommended—not just cruciferous vegetables

Do These Foods Prevent Cancer?

•Soy foods:– The phytochemicals that they contain

may fight cancer (based on animal studies)

– Soy-based foods, such as tofu, may lower the risk of cancers of the breast, prostate, or endometrium

– Evidence does not support the use of isolated soy phytochemical supplements to reduce cancer risk

Do These Foods Prevent Cancer? (cont’d)

•Tea:– Some research (animal studies)

suggests that tea may have antioxidant properties and prevent cancer

– Studies in humans are less conclusive

– Drinking tea is not shown to prevent cancer in humans

Do These Foods Prevent Cancer? (cont’d)

•Garlic:– The health benefits of garlic are

widely publicized– Not enough evidence exists to

support garlic as a food to prevent cancer at this time

Do These Foods Prevent Cancer? (cont’d)

•Irradiated foods•Bioengineered foods•Aspartame•Coffee•Dietary fat•Pesticides and herbicides (wash

food thoroughly)

Things That Do Not Cause Cancer

•Achieve and maintain a healthy weight throughout life

•Stay physically active•Eat a healthy diet, with

emphasis on plant foods•If you drink alcohol, limit your

intake

The Bottom Line

•Focus on the overall content of your diet, rather than specific nutrients

•At this time, no strong evidence is available to suggest that you should take vitamin supplements to prevent cancer

The Bottom Line (cont’d)

References

American Cancer Society. ACS guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer prevention. Available at: http://www.cancer.org/Healthy/EatHealthyGetActive/ACSGuidelinesonNutritionPhysicalActivityforCancerPrevention/acs-guidelines-on-nutrition-and-physical-activity-for-cancer-prevention-intro. Accessed February 28, 2012.

American Institute for Cancer Research. Cancer resource: introduction. Available at: http://www.aicr.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cancerresource_introduction. Accessed February 28, 2012.

Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Healthy weight—it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle! Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/index.htm. Accessed February 28, 2012.

Kushi LH, Byers T, Doyle C, et al; American Cancer Society 2006 Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee. American Cancer Society guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer prevention: reducing the risk of cancer with healthy food choices and physical activity. CA Cancer J Clin. 2006;56:254-314.

National Cancer Institute. Cancer prevention overview (PDQ®). Available at: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/prevention/overview/healthprofessional. Accessed February 28, 2012.

National Cancer Institute. Obesity and cancer risk. Available at: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/obesity. Accessed February 28, 2012.

References (cont’d)