Did You Know?
- Evidence suggests that about one-third of the 500,000 cancer deaths that occur in the United States each year is due to dietary factors
- Another third is due to cigarette smoking
- For the large majority of Americans who do not smoke cigarettes, dietary choices and
physical activity become the most important modifiable determinants of cancer risk
- Behavioral factors such as cigarette smoking, dietary choices, and physical activity modify the risk of cancer at all stages of its development
- Trends indicate an increase in caloric intake, greater use of high-fat convenience foods, and a decline in physical activity among Americans
- No diet can guarantee full protection against any disease, we believe that our recommendations offer the best nutrition information currently available to help Americans reduce their risk of cancer
ACS Guidelines on Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer Prevention
- Choose most of the foods you eat from plant sources
- Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day
- Eat other foods from plant sources, such as breads, cereals, grain products, rice, pasta, or beans several times each day
- Limit your intake of high-fat foods, particularly from animal sources
- Choose foods low in fat
- Limit consumption of meats, especially high-fat meats
- Be physically active: achieve and maintain a healthy weight
- Be at least moderately active for 30 minutes or more on most days of the week
- Stay within your healthy weight range
- Limit consumption of alcoholic beverages, if you drink at all
Topics In Nutrition and Cancer
- Antioxidants: Certain nutrients in fruits and vegetables appear to protect the body against the oxygen-induced damage to tissues that occurs constantly as a result of normal metabolism. Because such damage is associated with
increased cancer risk, antioxidant nutrients are thought to protect against cancer
- Artificial Sweeteners: Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame show no increased risk for cancer
- Cooking Methods: Some research suggests that frying or charcoal-broiling meats at very high temperatures creates chemicals that might increase cancer risk. Preserving meats by methods involving smoke also increases their content of potentially
carcinogenic chemicals
- Genetics: Genes that increase or decrease cancer risk can be either inherited or acquired by mutations throughout life. Nutrients and nutritional factors in the diet can protect DNA from being damaged, and can delay or
prevent the development of cancer even in people with an increased genetic risk for the disease
- Supplements: Strong evidence associates a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and other plant foods with reduced risk of
cancer, but there is no evidence at this time that supplements can reduce cancer risk
Sources For More Information on Nutrition
Information on this page has been taken from American Cancer Society and National Library of Medicine resources.
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