Studies suggest plant-based diets are best for cancer prevention.
Food Is a Package Deal
What about meat? Overall, do you think it’s harmful, harmless, or helpful? Overall—harmful, because food is a package deal. Yes, there are lots of nutrients in beef, for example. Cows are, after all, plant-eaters.
But, even though they claim you can “have it your way,” you can’t go to Burger King, order a Whopper, and say, “Could I get that without cholesterol, artery-clogging saturated fat, and… hold the hormones?” Doesn’t work that way; food is a package deal.
The latest study this year found that breast cancer risk goes up more than 50% for each 100 grams of meat women eat every day. That’s like one piece of chicken. A 50% increased breast cancer risk for every daily drumstick!
The most authoritative report on diet and cancer in history was published in 1997; the World Cancer Research Fund’s tome, which reviewed essentially every study on diet and cancer ever published. It concluded: “Choose a diet that is predominantly plant-based, rich in a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and beans, with minimally processed starchy foods,”—meaning whole grains. So, we should be eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, and whole grains. That’s what thousands of studies point towards for cancer prevention: a whole-foods, plant-based diet.
Ten years later, they published the sequel, covering the thousands of studies published in the interim, the last decade. And, they came to the same conclusion: plant-based diets are the healthiest. But, they found even stronger evidence implicating obesity, alcohol, and meat as cancer-promoters—especially cured meats like bacon, hot dogs, and cold cuts.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Dianne Moore.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- F. Bessaoud, J.P. Daurés, & M. Gerber. Dietary factors and breast cancer risk: a case control study among a population in Southern France. Nutr Cancer, 60(2):177-187, 2008.
- AICR/WCRF. Food, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective. 1997.
- AICR/WCRF. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective. 2007.
Image thanks to smith_cl9 via flickr.
What about meat? Overall, do you think it’s harmful, harmless, or helpful? Overall—harmful, because food is a package deal. Yes, there are lots of nutrients in beef, for example. Cows are, after all, plant-eaters.
But, even though they claim you can “have it your way,” you can’t go to Burger King, order a Whopper, and say, “Could I get that without cholesterol, artery-clogging saturated fat, and… hold the hormones?” Doesn’t work that way; food is a package deal.
The latest study this year found that breast cancer risk goes up more than 50% for each 100 grams of meat women eat every day. That’s like one piece of chicken. A 50% increased breast cancer risk for every daily drumstick!
The most authoritative report on diet and cancer in history was published in 1997; the World Cancer Research Fund’s tome, which reviewed essentially every study on diet and cancer ever published. It concluded: “Choose a diet that is predominantly plant-based, rich in a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and beans, with minimally processed starchy foods,”—meaning whole grains. So, we should be eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, and whole grains. That’s what thousands of studies point towards for cancer prevention: a whole-foods, plant-based diet.
Ten years later, they published the sequel, covering the thousands of studies published in the interim, the last decade. And, they came to the same conclusion: plant-based diets are the healthiest. But, they found even stronger evidence implicating obesity, alcohol, and meat as cancer-promoters—especially cured meats like bacon, hot dogs, and cold cuts.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Dianne Moore.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- F. Bessaoud, J.P. Daurés, & M. Gerber. Dietary factors and breast cancer risk: a case control study among a population in Southern France. Nutr Cancer, 60(2):177-187, 2008.
- AICR/WCRF. Food, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective. 1997.
- AICR/WCRF. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective. 2007.
Image thanks to smith_cl9 via flickr.
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Food Is a Package Deal
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Content URLDoctor's Note
More on the health risks of meat consumption:
Carnitine, Choline, Cancer, and Cholesterol: The TMAO Connection
Preventing Alzheimer’s with Turmeric
Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death
For some of the latest videos on the link between cancer and meat consumption:
Caloric Restriction vs. Plant-Based Diets
Reducing Cancer Risk In Meat-Eaters
Estrogenic Cooked-Meat Carcinogens
Poultry Exposure Tied to Liver and Pancreatic Cancer
And check out my other videos on cancer.
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