Class participant heard that celery should be avoided for colon cancer patients. Only thing I’ve read about celery is to consume only ‘organic’ as conventional grown veggie is extremely high in pesticides. Do you know any other reason it should be avoided? Thanks.
Joanne Irwin / Originally asked on the NutritionFacts.org facebook page
Answer:
Celery avoidance makes no sense to me. In fact celery may have a “strong protective effect against colorectal cancer.” And in terms of for people already fighting the disease, a study was just published a few weeks ago elucidating the mechanism by which one of the key phytonutrients in celery (luteolin) arrests the growth of human colon cancer cells in vitro. For a comparison of the anti-cancer activity of a variety of vegetables, see my videos Veggies vs. Cancer and the follow-up, #1 Anticancer Vegetable.
For some reason the subject of nutrition appears especially wrought with myths, exaggerations, and baseless opinions. That’s in fact one of the reasons NutritionFacts.org was started. When it comes to what we put in our bodies, critical thinking is, well, critical. Any time anyone hears anything like that I would encourage you to ask what their source was for their information. If there really is science backing up their assertions I’d be happy to review it and offer my thoughts.
Image credit: TheDeliciousLife / Flickr
