Can a vegetarian diet help prevent colon cancer? Research has shown that people who regularly eat red or processed meat are up to 50 percent more likely to develop colon cancer than those who avoid meat, states a press release
Can a vegetarian diet help prevent colon cancer? Research has shown that people who regularly eat red or processed meat are up to 50 percent more likely to develop colon cancer than those who avoid meat, states a press release put out by Cancer Research.
A crossover study recently published in the journal Cancer Research confirmed that a plant-based diet can play a key role in cancer prevention.
Study participants were put on a vegetarian, red-meat, or red-meat-and-high-fiber diet for 15 days.
The red-meat diet resulted in significantly higher levels of N-nitrosocompounds, compounds that can alter DNA and increase the risk of developing colon cancer, than the vegitarian diet.
The red-meat, high-fiber diet resulted in lower levels of N-nitrosocompounds than the read meat diet, but not as low as with the vegitarian diet.
This data suggests that fiber, which is found only in part in plant foods, may play a protective role by repairing damaged DNA and decreasing the amount of time harmful compounds stay in the colon.
Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide, but it doesn’t have to be.
A meatless diet right in fiber, fruits, and vegetables may be the strongest ally in the fight against colon cancer.
