
Cancer
Whereas infectious diseases were the primary causes of death during the Age of Pestilence and Famine, our current era of human disease, the Age of Degenerative and Man-Made Diseases, counts lifestyle diseases—heart disease, chronic lung disease, and cancer—as the top killers.
This pandemic of chronic disease has been ascribed in part to the near-universal shift toward a diet dominated by animal-sourced and processed foods—in other words, more meat, dairy, eggs, oils, soda, salt, sugar, and refined grains. China is one of the best-studied examples. There, a transition away from the country’s traditional, plant-based diet was accompanied by a sharp rise in diet-related chronic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.
The same kind of diet that may help prevent common cancers just so happens to be the same kind of diet that may also help prevent heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and many other leading causes of death. Unlike drugs—which tend to only target specific conditions, can have dangerous side effects, and may only treat the symptoms of disease—a healthy diet can benefit all organ systems at once, has good side effects, and may treat the underlying cause of illness.
That one unifying diet found to best prevent and treat many of these chronic diseases is a whole-food, plant-based diet, defined as an eating pattern that encourages the consumption of unrefined plant foods and discourages meats, dairy products, eggs, and processed foods.
The truth is that adhering to just four simple healthy lifestyle factors can have a strong impact on the prevention of chronic diseases: not smoking, not being obese, getting a half hour of daily exercise, and eating healthier—defined as consuming more fruits, veggies, and whole grains, and less meat. Those four factors alone were found to account for 78 percent of chronic disease risk. If you start from scratch and manage to tick off all four, you may be able to wipe out more than 90 percent of your risk of developing diabetes, more than 80 percent of your risk of having a heart attack, cut by half your risk of having a stroke, and reduce your overall cancer risk by more than one-third. For some cancers, like our number-two cancer killer, colon cancer, up to 71 percent of cases appear to be preventable through a similar portfolio of simple diet and lifestyle changes.
The information on this page has been compiled from Dr. Greger’s research. Sources for each video listed can be found by going to the video’s page and clicking on the Sources Cited tab. References may also be found at the back of his books.
Popular Videos for Cancer


The Impacts of Plant-Based Diets on Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer
Why do people who eat more plants get less breast and prostate cancer?
The Best Diet for Cancer Patients
What diet should oncologists recommend?
Diet and Lifestyle for Cancer Prevention and Survival
What kind of diet should cancer patients eat?
How Effective Is Chemotherapy?
Most chemo drugs are approved by the FDA without evidence of benefit on survival or...
How Much Does Chemotherapy Improve Survival?
If you put together all of the new chemo drugs that had been approved over...
How Much Cancer Does Processed Meat Cause?
I quantify the risks of colon and rectal cancers from eating bacon, ham, hot dogs,...
Fighting the Ten Hallmarks of Cancer with Food
The foundation of cancer prevention is plants, not pills.
The Food That Can Downregulate a Metastatic Cancer Gene
Women with breast cancer should include the “liberal culinary use of cruciferous vegetables.”
How to Help Control Cancer Metastasis with Diet
Randomized controlled trials show lowering saturated fat intake can lead to improved breast cancer survival.
What Causes Cancer to Metastasize?
Palmitic acid, a saturated fat concentrated in meat and dairy, can boost the metastatic potential...
The Best Diet for Colon Cancer Prevention
What would happen within just two weeks if you swapped the diets of Americans with...
Is Organic Meat Less Carcinogenic?
Researchers tested 76 samples of different kinds of organic and conventional meats for 33 different...
Black Salve as an Alternative Cancer Cure
Is black salve, a paste made from bloodroot, safe and effective for the treatment of...
Treating Advanced Prostate Cancer with Diet: Part 1
Dr. Dean Ornish showed that a plant-based diet and lifestyle program could apparently reverse the...
Treating Advanced Prostate Cancer with Diet: Part 2
What happens when metastatic prostate cancer patients were taught to increase intake of whole grains,...
Tomato Sauce vs. Prostate Cancer
What happened when cancer patients were given three quarters of a cup of canned tomato...
How Not to Die from Cancer
What happens when we put cancer on a plant-based diet?
Resistant Starch and Colon Cancer
Fiber isn’t the only thing our good gut bacteria can eat. Starch can also act...
Who Shouldn’t Eat Soy?
How can soy foods have it both ways with pro-estrogenic effects in some organs that...
Animal Protein Compared to Cigarette Smoking
Only about 1 in 10,000 people live to be 100 years old. What’s their secret?
Zeranol Use in Meat and Breast Cancer
Anabolic growth-promoting drugs in meat production are by far the most potent hormones found in...
Anti-Angiogenesis: Cutting Off Tumor Supply Lines
Cancer cells are commonly present in the body, but cannot grow into tumors without hooking...
Prostate Cancer Survival: The A/V Ratio
Reducing the ratio of animal to plant protein in men’s diets may slow the progression...
Breast Cancer Survival Vegetable
Simple changes in diet and lifestyle may quadruple a woman’s survival rate from breast cancer.
Eggs, Choline, and Cancer
Choline may be the reason egg consumption is associated with prostate cancer progression and death.
Back to Our Roots: Curry and Cancer
Dramatically lower cancer rates in India may in part be attributable to their more plant-based,...
Which Dietary Factors Affect Breast Cancer Most?
American Institute for Cancer Research recommendation compliance associated not only with cancer prevention and survival...
Solving a Colon Cancer Mystery
Even though modern African diets may now be as miserably low in fiber as American...
Should We All Get Colonoscopies Starting at Age 50?
Why do doctors in the United States continue to recommend colonoscopies when most other countries...
Which Fruit Fights Cancer Better?
The ability of eleven common fruits to suppress cancer cell growth in vitro was compared....
Prostate Cancer and Organic Milk vs. Almond Milk
Does the hormonal stimulation of human prostate cancer cells by cow milk in a petri...
Cholesterol Feeds Breast Cancer Cells
Cholesterol appears to stimulate the growth of human breast cancer cells—which may explain why phytosterol-rich...
Starving Cancer with Methionine Restriction
Methionine restriction—best achieved through a plant-based diet—may prove to have a major impact on patients...
BRCA Breast Cancer Genes and Soy
One reason why soy consumption is associated with improved survival and lower recurrence rates in...All Videos for Cancer
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How Not To Age – Live Presentation
In this live lecture, Dr. Greger offers a sneak peek into his latest book, How Not to Age.
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Soy Foods for Menopause Hot Flash Symptoms
Soy can be considered a first-line treatment for menopausal hot flash and night sweat symptoms.
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How to Die a Good Death
Hospice is often framed as “giving up,” but, ironically, hospice patients sometimes actually live longer
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Dietary Sources of the “Longevity Vitamin” Ergothioneine
It may be even more important to include mushrooms (or tempeh) in our diet as we age.
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Book Trailer for How Not to Age
Learn about my newest book, How Not to Age.
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Yoga Put to the Test for MS, Back Pain, Neck Pain, Insomnia, and Breast Cancer
Is yoga better than other types of exercise, better than nothing but similar to other physical activity, or not beneficial even when it’s compared to doing nothing at all?
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Which Foods Are the Most Anti-Angiogenic?
For cancer prevention, researchers suggest “constant consumption” of anti-angiogenic foods.
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Targeting Angiogenesis to Lose Weight
Expanding body fat releases blood supply-generating factors that may end up hooking up tumors, too.
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Greens, Green Tea, and Nuts Put to the Test for Telomeres
Not all plant foods are linked to less cellular aging based on telomere attrition, and not all animal foods are linked to more.
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Vitamin D Supplements Tested for COPD, Heart Disease, Depression, Obesity, and Cancer Survival
Before watching the video, can you guess which conditions vitamin D has actually been proven to work for in randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials?
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The Negative Effects and Benefits of Plant-Based Diets
What are the pros and cons of plant-based eating?
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Strategies to Eat Less Meat
What is the most effective way to help people reduce their meat consumption?
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Spontaneous Regression of Cancer with Fasting
How can we naturally increase the activity of our cancer-fighting natural killer cells?
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A Case of Stage 3 Cancer Reversal with Fasting
I go over a case report of water-only fasting, followed by a whole food, plant-based diet for follicular lymphoma.
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Oatmeal Diet Put to the Test for Diabetes Treatment
What are the extraordinary, lasting benefits we may get from a few days of an oatmeal diet?
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Does Tongue Scraping Cause Cancer?
Tongue cleaning should be carried out gently with low pressure to avoid unnecessary tissue trauma.
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The Best Diet for Cancer Patients
What diet should oncologists recommend?
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Diet and Lifestyle for Cancer Prevention and Survival
What kind of diet should cancer patients eat?
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Using the Cigarette Tax Playbook Against Big Food
How might we replicate one of our great public health victories—the reduction of smoking rates—in the field of nutrition?
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The Potential Harm in Unnecessary Gluten-Free Diets
How might we prevent the inflammation from gluten-free diets?
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The Side Effects of Burning Incense
Burning incense has been found to generate about four times the particulate matter as burning cigarettes.
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Fasting-Mimicking Diet Before and After Chemotherapy
How might we replicate the protective effects of fasting with food?
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Fasting Before and After Chemotherapy Put to the Test
Do the benefits of short-term fasting during cancer therapy found in the lab translate into the clinical setting?
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Fasting Before and After Chemotherapy and Radiation
Might short-term fasting during cancer treatment minimize side effects while boosting efficacy?
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Fasting for Cancer: What About Cachexia?
What did randomized controlled trials find as the effects of supplemental feeding on clinical outcomes?
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The Best Diet for Treating Atrial Fibrillation
What foods should we eat and avoid to reduce our risk of Afib?
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How to Treat H. Pylori Naturally with Diet
What food can eradicate H. pylori in the majority of patients?
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The Role of Kimchi and H. Pylori in Stomach Cancer
What explains the Achilles’ heel in certain Asian diets?
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How Much Does Chemotherapy Improve Survival?
If you put together all of the new chemo drugs that had been approved over a dozen years, the average overall survival benefit is only 2.1 months.
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How Effective Is Chemotherapy?
Most chemo drugs are approved by the FDA without evidence of benefit on survival or quality of life.
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How Much Does Meat Affect Longevity?
If you care about your health so much that it would be unthinkable to light up a cigarette before and after lunch, maybe you should order a bean burrito instead of a meaty one.
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How Big Meat Manipulated the Science
Big Meat downplays the magnitude of meat mortality.
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The Health Risks vs. Benefits of Meat Consumption
The meat industry’s own study concluded that meat consumption increased the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and premature death.
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Failing GRADE for Annals of Internal Medicine Meat Studies
The meat industry comes up with a perversion of evidence-based medicine.
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Observational Studies Show Similar Results to Randomized Controlled Trials
How legitimate is the common corporate criticism of the scientific nutrition literature that the credibility of observational studies is questionable?
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How Big Sugar Manipulated the Science for Dietary Guidelines
How did Big Corn Syrup and other corporate sugar titans hijack the scientific process?
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Weight Bias: Hating Their Guts
How common is weight stigmatization in health care?
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Micromorts: How Risky Is It to Go Under Anesthesia?
A micromort as a unit of comparing and communicating risk to patients equivalent to a one in a million chance of dying.
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Animal Protein vs. Plant-Based Protein
I discuss a public health case for modernizing the definition of protein quality.
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Ultra-Processed Junk Food Put to the Test
What happened when ultra-processed foods were matched for calories, sugar, fat, and fiber content in the first randomized controlled trial?