Eating fruits, tree nuts cuts risk of various cancers, studies find
Eating fruits daily reduces the risk of developing blood and lymph cancers, and cuts the risk of contracting a variety of malignancies including lung, bladder, gastric and esophageal cancer; and eating tree nuts (not peanuts) minimizes the danger of recurrence and death from colorectal cancer.
And a Canadian study on the relationship between hookah (nargila or water pipe) smoking and cancer has shown that it significantly increases the risk of many types of cancer, including of the lung (4.5 times higher), the esophagus (3.6 times), the bladder and the stomach (twice as high) and the prostate (four times higher). The study was published recently in the scientific journal Tobacco Control.
These findings were reported on Tuesday by the Israel Cancer Association, which held a press conference Tel Aviv in advance of its annual Knock on the Door fund-raising campaign next Monday. The campaign will be headed this year by Liora Ofer, chairman of Melisron and Ofer Investments.
Ofer said: “Sometimes it seems that none of us has enough mental resources to cope with pain, helplessness, seemingly endless treatments and loss. This disease does not distinguish between people. Therefore, we need more than ever to mobilize to combat cancer. At the ICA, each patient receives an attentive ear and professional advice for the specific treatment and for the doctor or hospital that specializes in the specific type of illness.”
ICA director-general Miri Ziv added: “Cancer has no territorial boundaries. It hurts people all over the world, so every achievement in cancer research, including here in Israel, means success of the entire world in the fight against cancer. Indeed, new methods developed from studies conducted in Israel are implemented today here and abroad.”
Prof. Lital Keinan Boker, deputy director of the Health Ministry’s Center for Disease Control, reported on findings from the National Cancer Registry that while “the Israeli Arab population has lower incidence rates than the Jewish population for most cancers, the rates in the Arab sector are increasing over time, thus narrowing the gap with the Jewish population.” With high smoking and obesity rates, the consumption of a more Western, urban diet, and reduced fertility, Arab Israelis are putting themselves at higher risk for cancer.
An ICA-funded meta-analysis by several Israeli hospitals found that eating a lot of fresh produce reduces the risk of developing blood and lymph cancers, including Hodgkin’s lymphoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, myeloma acute myeloid leukemia.
The study on tree nuts found that eating almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, macadamia, pecans and more can reduce the risk of obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes and cut the danger of the recurrence of colon cancer by 46% and death from it by 53% compared with patients who did not consume nuts.
A study conducted at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine found that the balance of seven genes in glioblastoma model systems may predict a significant prolongation of patients’ lives. Glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, is known to be particularly violent. Some 97% of patients die within 14 months of diagnosis, and many die within a few months.
In the future, the studies may serve as a basis for the development of an effective cocktail of drugs for these deadly diseases and other cancers, Based on these results, the researchers developed materials that would identify and fluoresce cancer cells that remained in tissue in real-time, while surgically removing the tumor.
Cancer patients and their families are invited to contact the ICA telemedicine center 24 hours a day to ask questions and receive free newsletters on cancer treatment, treatments, rights and services, clinical studies, support groups, events and seminars for patients. Call 1-800-599 or go to the website at http://en.cancer.org.il. and