Cancer-Fighting Foods

Although early links between cancer and diet were largely dismissed, evidence and some acceptance of the role of diet in cancer prevention and treatment is growing. According to the American and Canadian Cancer Societies, diet affects as much as [Page 161]one third of all cancers when combined with regular exercise. Having said this, the existing research on cancer and food is far from homogeneous or conclusive, and the precise mechanisms by which foods prevents, and/or resists, cancer growth remain largely unknown. While no single miracle food can cure or prevent cancer, some of the existing data point to a whole-food (i.e., non-refined, nonprocessed), largely plant-based diet as one of the best to reduce one’s cancer risk. In a more speculative 2006 claim, the nutritional biochemist ...