Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer: Cancer Prevention: Cancer Center: UI Health Topics

Cancer Prevention: What You Need To Know

Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer

Peer Review Status: Internally Reviewed by Cancer Center Staff
Creation Date: 1996
Last Revision Date: June 2004

What Is Known About This Topic?
Scientists are rapidly learning about the role that diet and nutrition play in cancer causation and prevention. This often seems overwhelming, with new reports about this food or that food causing or preventing cancer reported almost weekly in the media. However, we rarely make recommendations from a single study. Rather, experts in nutrition sit down and review all of the evidence and then put together recommendations, which are periodically reviewed as we gain more knowledge. These recommendations must also fit with what we know about diet and other diseases like heart disease. Major health organizations are currently recommending the following points in designing a diet which is likely to reduce your risk of cancer:

What Are The Current Recommendations?

Maintain a desirable weight. Obesity (often defined as 40% or more over your recommended weight) is a risk factor for several forms of cancer.
Eat a variety of foods.
Cut down on total fat intake. Avoid excess saturated fats as found in meat, poultry, eggs, nuts, palm and coconut oil, and limit polyunsaturated (margarines and oils containing corn, safflower, sunflower, soybean, sesame, and cottonseed) and monounsaturated (avocados, olives, peanuts, olive and peanut oil) fats.
Eat more high fiber foods. Fiber comes from plant foods only, and includes breads, cereals, legumes, fruits, and vegetables. Choose whole grain breads and crackers.
Include five or more, servings of fruits and vegetables a day and at least three to four servings of cruciferous vegetables per week. Examples of cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and turnip greens.
Eat red meat (beef, pork, lamb) sparingly and avoid salt-cured, smoked and nitrite-cured meats. Trim the fat from the meat you eat. Choose fish or chicken at other meals, and try to have a meatless meal once a week.
How you cook your food may also be important. Avoid fried foods that are soaked with fats. Steam, bake, or poach your food instead. Also avoid high temperature broiling, and reserve charcoal grilled meats for special occasions.
If you use alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.

Changing eating habits to prevent cancer is not about giving up all the "fun" foods in life, rather it is about eating more of the foods that protect against cancer and eating less of the foods which increase your risk.

Scientists continue to study the role of diet and cancer prevention. Currently the National Cancer Institute is sponsoring two long-term studies. The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) is looking at low-fat diet and breast and colon cancer. The Women's Intervention Nutrition Study (WINS) is looking at whether a low-fat diet might prevent recurrence of breast cancer.

Where Can I Get More Information?

University of Iowa Resources

Cancer Information Service (1-800-237-1225)
Holden Cancer Center dietitian

Other Resources

Your family physician
American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org
National Cancer Institute
http://www.cancer.gov/cancer_information/
Dietitian at your local hospital

If you would like more information about nutrition and cancer or to obtain phone numbers to the above organizations, please contact the Cancer Information Service at (1-800-237-1225) or e-mail: cancer-information@uiowa.edu.

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Last modification date: Tue Jan 9 11:59:14 2007
URL: http://www.uihealthcare.com /topics/medicaldepartments/cancercenter/prevention/preventiondiet.html