Many Americans are just coming around to the correlation that “food is medicine”, let alone, the #1 top recommendation of good nutrition and regular exercise is still left ignored. In speaking of stats, cancer sits at the #2 spot in the top leading causes of death in the United States.
Some still are up in the air about how important it is to incorporate a proper diet and exercise lifestyle. Well, we’ve gathered a complete list of the sometimes confusing, unobvious, and complicated relationships between diet, exercise and 13 specific cancers from the American Cancer Society:
Bladder Cancer
Smoking is a major cause of bladder cancer, so one option for prevention is clear. There's some evidence that you can also lower your risk by eating plenty of vegetables and drinking lots of fluids.
Brain Cancer
As far as anyone can tell, diet and exercise don't have any effect on your risk for brain cancer.
Breast Cancer
There are never any guarantees when it comes to breast cancer, but you can lower your risk by drinking alcohol only in moderation (one drink a day for women), maintaining a healthy weight, and getting at least four hours of exercise each week. There's some not-especially-strong evidence that getting lots of fruits and vegetables will help, too.
Colorectal Cancer
Not surprisingly, there's a relatively strong link between your diet and your risk for colorectal cancer. Getting plenty of vegetables and fruit may lower the risk, while eating a lot of red meat may increase the risk.
Calcium and vitamin D may help protect against colon cancer, so you want to get a good supply of those minerals. High levels of calcium may increase prostate cancer risk, though, so men may want to limit calcium intake to 1,500 mg per day.
Research suggests that moderate, regular physical activity may lower the risk of colorectal cancer (especially colon cancer), and vigorous activity may be even better.
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Endometrial Cancer
Women who are overweight are at higher risk for endometrial cancer, partly because extra body fat can disrupt hormone levels. Maintaining a healthy weight through diet and exercise can lower a woman's risk. Limiting alcohol to one drink a day could help, too.
Kidney Cancer
For reasons that aren't clear, overweight people areespecially vulnerable to kidney cancer. The prevention message: Maintain a healthy weight, and you're less likely to get this disease.
Leukemias and Lymphomas
As with brain cancer, there's no sign that these cancers of the blood have anything to do with a persons’ diet or exercise habits.
Lung Cancer
Obviously, smoking is the main cause of lung cancer, and the best thing you can do to avoid the disease is stay away from tobacco in all of its forms. That said, people who get their full share of fruits and vegetables seem to have some extra protection against the disease.
There used to be hope that antioxidant supplements could prevent lung cancer, but that hope has faded. Large studies have found that, among smokers, high doses of vitamin A and beta-carotene supplements may actually slightly increase the risk of lung cancer. In short, it's probably better to get your antioxidants the natural way: with fruits and vegetables.
Oral and Esophageal Cancers
Drinking too much alcohol can increase your risk of oral and esophageal cancers, especially if you're also a smoker. People who are overweight or who skimp on fruits and vegetables also seem to be at risk. Having just one or two drinks a day, maintaining a healthy weight, and eating plenty of produce will improve your odds.
Ovarian Cancer
It's unclear if diet has any effect on the risk ofovarian cancer. But to play it safe, stick to the basics: Drink only in moderation and get lots of fruits and vegetables.
Pancreatic Cancer
As the organ that makes insulin, the pancreas is greatly affected by levels of sugar in the blood. Being overweight and staying physically inactive can mess up your sugar metabolism, and it can also increase your risk for pancreatic cancer. Eating lots of red meats and processed meats seems to amplify the risk, but fruits and vegetables offer protection.
Prostate Cancer
Large amounts of dairy products and red meat can increase your risk of prostate cancer. On the plus side, there's some hope that natural antioxidants (such as lycopene in tomatoes) may help lower the risk, but the jury is still out. The best bet: Lots of fruits, lots of vegetables.
Stomach Cancer
No surprises here: At least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day seems to lower the risk of stomach cancer. For extra protection, go easy on foods that are loaded with salt or nitrates (including processed meat, such as hot dogs).
Fitness and diet have been proven to lower your risk of cancer. However, not all cancers respond the same way to certain lifestyle changes. Take the time to seek balance in all of these connections to cancer, diet, and exercise.
It may seem overwhelming but incorporating little changes will make the biggest impact in the end. It also helps to know that many of these steps that protect you from one cancer will give you high chances of protection from others as well.
SOURCES:
American Cancer Society. Guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer prevention. Guidelines for Cancer Prevention. 2008.
American Cancer Society. The Complete Guide: Nutritional and Physical Activity.
Cleveland Clinic. Diet, nutrition, and healthy lifestyle help reduce cancer risk. 2010.
Medical News Today, article, The top 10 leading causes of death in the United States, Feb. 23, 2017.
