Eat Well, Feel Great Can our diet prevent cancer?

We asked the experts whether diet plays a part in our chances of contracting this life-threatening illness...

Eating well is vital for good health, but research also shows that your diet may have an impact on your risk of certain cancers. So what should we eat to potentially lessen our chances?

FRUIT & VEG

Plant-based foods are packed with vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals, which help protect your body’s cells from damage, which can lead to cancer.

There are different types of phytochemicals in different fruit and veg, so choose a wide variety, says nutritionist Mays Al-ali. ‘Eat the rainbow – as many colourful fruits and veggies as possible a day and throughout the week. The more colourful, the more antioxidants and anti-cancer fighting benefits.’

Aim for at least five portions a day, although nutritionists agree that 10 offers more protection. ‘Have eight different vegetables and two fruits,’ says Mays. ‘Go for low-sugar fruits such as berries, both local and seasonal.’

TRY... adding berries to your porridge or swapping your normal snack for vegetable sticks and houmous. Make smoothies with kale and avocado, ginger and carrots for an extra veggie boost.

WHOLEGRAINS

A high-fibre diet, with plenty of wholegrains (rice, oats, pasta and bread) decreases your bowel cancer risk by moving food quickly through your bowel.

‘There’s strong evidence to suggest that eating 30g of fibre per day protects against colorectal cancer,’ says Healthspan nutritionist Rob Hobson, ‘as well as helping to maintain a healthy body weight, which is a risk factor for the disease.’

TRY… choosing brown rice and wholewheat pasta and bread over white. It’s higher in fibre and has had less of the natural nutrients stripped out.

PULSES

Foods such as lentils, peas and beans have the same cancer-fighting properties as fruit and veg and all count towards your five (or 10!) a day. ‘They’re also high in fibre,’ says Rob, ‘and, according to the World Cancer Research Fund, should make up a large part of our diet to protect against cancer.’

TRY… swapping some of the red meat in your favourite dishes for lentils and beans. Shepherd’s pie, cottage pie, lasagne, chilli and stews all work well.

EATING TOO MUCH

Being overweight is the biggest cause of cancer after smoking. It’s linked to more than one in 20 diagnoses in the UK, and is set to overtake smoking as the biggest preventable cause in UK women within the next 25 years, according to a Cancer Research UK study. In fact, being overweight or obese raises your risk of 13 types of cancer, including two of the most common (breast and bowel) and

three of the hardest to treat (pancreatic, oesophageal and gall bladder). And it’s worse if you’re older, because studies suggest that following menopause, obese women have a 30% higher risk of breast cancer than women of a healthy weight.

‘Fat in your body doesn’t just sit there doing nothing,’ says TV’S Dr Michael Mosley. ‘It’s involved in sending signals throughout your body telling cells what to do and when to divide. Extra fat can encourage too much cell division and growth, causing cancer to start and continue growing.’

And it matters where you carry your extra fat. Too much around your belly (dangerous visceral fat) is particularly bad – it’s believed to affect your internal organs.